Protocol Omega
by longWriter
Summary: Third Volume of MON: 2028, where man-eating robots tear time apart, opening rifts into new realities. A crossover that involves Pokemon and Monster Rancher, too.
1. Default Chapter

All right, here we are... This is Protocol Omega, the third volume of a very long fanfic...albeit one with relatively short chapters. It's all part of a trilogy called "MON: 2028" and it combines characters from Digimon, Pokémon, and Monster Rancher. It's not Pokémon vs. Digimon vs. Monster Rancher, but it's all three versus a whole new breed of creatures that I've designed to serve as the bad guys: evil man-eating robots called "menace machines" bred by an alien empire. They're efficient, ruthless, and stupid, thanks to a low programming budget. The story, as it happens, takes place in the world of Digimon, but not in the digital world---only in the Earth of the 01 - 02 TV show.

Before you start reading, I think you should know that the story is built on a Christian worldview, with such ideas as "reality is objective" and "physical matter is real" and "Jesus is God" and such things as that. Some people are offended by that stuff, but I figure that if other people are allowed to publish sexually explicit, unnecessarily violent, and/or hateful material, I should be allowed to publish this.

While I'm on the subject of violence, there is enough of it in Protocol Omega---as there is in the other two previous volumes, namely Arrival and Operation: Salvage Earth. Let's face it: how little violence can I have when the robots eat people? Some people may find that tough to stomach. I'm not totally explicit about the violence; I don't find blood and guts all that fun and didn't write them in, so I've given this a PG-13 rating. Still, the violence is there; reader discretion is advised.

Oh, and other thing: there's a touch of sexually implicit material---and by that I don't mean suggestive pictures. Let's just say one of the main villains has a very baboon-like view of the role of the opposite gender, and I chose such attributes for him to make him all the more villainous. The idea, I guess, was to portray some real evil in the story, and a lot of it so that a lot of evil could get wasted-on later.

As to the other two volumes, they're kind of introductions to this volume. Admittedly, they've got a lot of good stuff in them, and it's not altogether fair to say that they're nothing _but_ introductions to Protocol Omega, but still...most of the plot gets revealed here. Nonetheless, I think they'd be worth your time to read. They do a good job of explaining how the different heroes got to be in alliance with each other and serve to tell you more about some of the plot. Besides, with some of this stuff, you might end up feeling kind of lost without the proper introductions.

It's a royal pity that I can't show off the illustrations that I've made; you can see them in Arrival and Operation: Salvage Earth. A lot of the illustrations are animated digivolution sequences, and for those of you who think it's unfair that Digimon get all the glory, I agree with you: I made some Monster Rancher and Pokémon animations, too. Anyhow, I hope I get a chance to add them into the story, somehow, since there are a few animations that I would've put in Protocol Omega that don't appear in the previous two volumes.

But enough introduction out of me...

NOTE: I don't own digimon, pokémon, or Monster Rancher. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners, which would seem obvious, but I'm going to say this here, anyway.


	2. Chapter 1: Aloneness

NOTE:  Christian content.

Chapter 1:  Aloneness

            It was _gone._  There was no getting around that fact; their loved ones had vanished without a trace…or _was_ it without a trace?  "Search the whole area," Davis yelled.  "_Any_ clues where they are…we need to find everyone back!"

            Ken and Tina were both pale with the thought that Yolei might be dead.  But they only let this fear push them forward in searching for clues.

            Rika searched in the rubble near Cleaver's lab, and she found a golden card sitting in the debris.  It looked a _lot_ like the blue cards she and the other tamers had the ability to make.  She looked it over, and found that it had a white letter "W" on one side.  _What on earth could this thing be?_ she wondered.

            "Find something?" Davis asked.

            "I don't know," Rika answered, showing him the gold card.  "It looks like a mod-card."

            "Then you'd have the most use for it.  Keep it.  And keep searching…maybe someone left a diary entry, or something.  We need to know what happened to them."

            Imperialdramon was looking very groggy.  "Any chance we could find someplace safe to drop off these freight containers?" he asked.  "It's only a matter of time before I lose it!"

            "All right." Davis turned to the others and yelled, "**_EVERYONE BACK INTO IMPERIALDRAMON!_**"

            "So…where do we go?"

            "The next best place:  another nuke plant."

            "You think that would work?"

            "I don't know.  But if one is still up-and-running, it's worth a shot."  They found another plant, but they just made it inside 500 meters of the plant before they were forced to land.  Imperialdramon became a dog-tired Veemon and Wormmon. 

            "It's too bad that there isn't some way to get this food to keep," Brock thought aloud.   

            "That's the _least_ of our problems, Brock!" Ash shot back.  "Misty and Tracy were in there!"

            "We don't know that Ash.  In fact, there isn't a lot that we _do_ know."

            "How are we supposed to find them back?!" Ash asked.

            "I don't know…"

******

            Pikachu didn't know much about the cubes, but he knew that, before they had been separated, the last thing he heard about them was that they had to be kept in a safe place where the enemy wouldn't find them.  There were eight cubes all held together in a rack, so that they formed one big cube.  Pikachu had that big cube in his mouth, and Pikachu was running around, searching for a good place to hide it.  Occasionally, he dropped the cubes and sniffed a spot on the pavement where he wondered if there would be a hole to stuff it in.  Finally, he found a big enough hole.  He picked the cube up in his paws, held it over his head, and jammed the cube into the hole with all his strength.  It didn't quite go in all the way, so he began stomping the cube to get it to go in further.  He heard a low crackling noise as he stomped, and he looked.  There was a small, but growing crack that was worming its way away from the cube.  The crack stopped after a second, and an underbird began climbing out of the crack.

            Pikachu's first impulse was to run for his life, which he started to do.  But he stopped himself when he realized that this underbird counted as one of "the enemy", and, therefore, it mustn't get the datacubes.  He ran back, scooped up the cubes, and began running away from the underbird again.

            He felt explosion after explosion at his heels as he ran, just one step ahead of the underbird.  Pikachu rounded corners and tried to hide in alleyways, but it was no use:  the underbird was relentless.  Pikachu ran into a street square, where he saw The Unnamed Figure, giving marching orders to a vast array of menace machines.  Apparently, he was practicing his ability to control them manually.  At the time, he was controlling two black boxes.  Pikachu knew that black boxes were huge creatures that wouldn't be able to see him, so he'd be able to use them as cover.  He ducked between the two boxes, out of sight and out of reach of the underbird.

            Pikachu breathed a sigh of relief and began to catch his breath.  …Until he saw what was going on:  The Unnamed Figure wasn't the best pilot, and the two black boxes were slowly coming together.  Pikachu ran for all he was worth for the slit of light that was the way out from between the two closing boxes.  He didn't know whether he'd make it or not, and he almost didn't:  when he just got to the end, he felt the two boxes touch his sides.  He felt himself get crushed as he squeezed out from between the two boxes.  But he and the datacube were both safe.

            Pikachu collapsed on the ground and leaned against the boxes, panting.  Then the boxes came apart again and dropped him on the ground.  "Ka chuuu…" Pikachu muttered.

            After a few moments… "Non Kamna!"

            Pikachu jumped out of the way of the explosion.  "Pi ka _cheeeyoouuuuu_!" Pikachu hissed through his teeth as he carried the cubes away.  (That basic translation of that was "No rest for the weary!")  But then, he got an idea:  Pikachu raced towards The Unnamed Figure and jumped onto his arm.  "Plllbbbbbbt!"  Pikachu wiggled his tongue at the underbird, and the underbird fired.  The only thing The Unnamed Figure could do to avoid dying from the underbird's shot was to put his gauntlet between himself and the shot, and the D-Gauntlet getting hit was a major problem for him.  Of course, the act of moving the gauntlet hurled Pikachu into the air.

            _Now I know how Team Rocket feels,_ Pikachu thought as he flew towards a skyscraper.  He landed with a smash on the roof, and he came to the sudden realization that he didn't have the cubes.  In panic, he looked left and right for the cubes, but he didn't see them.  Then he looked up, and the cubes landed on his head.  Pikachu sat there in a daze for a moment, then shook off and picked up the cubes and looked around for another place to put them.

            He didn't find what he was expecting as he descended the stairs:  he saw a huddled, vaguely familiar, human girl.  He could tell from her scent that she had been sweating, as though she had been running a lot in the past few hours.  Pikachu also noticed a pink bird that was with her, and he recognized the bird.  "Pi-ka-chuuu!" he yelled.

            "Who's there?"

            "Pikachu!"

            "Pikachu?"

            "_Pi ka chu!!_"

            "Oh, it's you!"

            "**_Ka!!_**"  Pikachu romped up to her and set down the cubes.  "Pika-pi, Pikachu pi KA chu pi chuuuu."

            "…I didn't understand one word of that."

            Pikachu slapped his forehead in disgust.  "PI KA PI, PI KA CHUUU---"

            "Shh!  Keep it down!  You'll give away where we're hiding!"

            "Chu…"

            "Are those datacubes you're carrying important?"

            "Pika," Pikachu nodded.

            "So…what do we do with them?" Biyomon asked.

            "I don't know…" Sora moaned.  "I don't know what to do about _anything_!  This is like a nightmare come true; as if getting sucked into the Digiworld and then this weird version of Earth wasn't bad enough, now we're separated from everyone else, and we don't know if they're even alive, and---"

            "Sora…" Biyomon stopped her.

            Sora buried her face in her hands.

            "Sora…you're not alone."

            "Who else is there, except you, me, and Pikachu?"

            "…There's God."

            "But where was God when I got pitched into the Digiworld, huh?  Where was He when those Linonians tore time to pieces?  Where was He when they attacked the plant and separated all of us?"

            "…Sora, there are other people who make choices in this world besides God.  And---"

            "Biyomon, I don't want to hear some lie that will make me feel better."

            "I haven't said one thing that wasn't true, Sora.  I'm not a liar; you're the one with a problem!  You're a hopeless, poor girl.  Yes, I'm trying to make you feel better, but I'm not lying.  God is here, and you're still alive.  That's where He was while they attacked the plant:  keeping you alive.  And it can't be _that_ tough to find the others back; Pikachu just found us."

            Sora didn't answer.  She was upset, and admitting you're wrong is difficult when you're upset.  But she knew she'd been wrong, so she didn't say anything until she heard something smacking the building.  "What was that?!"

            "Black box!" Biyomon hissed.  "We need to fly out!"

            "I don't know if that's such a great idea---"

            "_NOW!!!_  **Biyomon, digivolve to…Birdramon!**"

            Sora picked Pikachu up, which Pikachu resented.  She jumped onto Birdramon's neck and they flew away from the building.

            "Non kamna!"  There were several underbirds following them as they flew away.

            _Oh, not again!_ Pikachu thought to himself, with a "_Ka cheeyaauuu_!"  _This is one of those times when I really wish **I** had a transformation…_


	3. Chapter 2: Worsening

Chapter 2:  Worsening

            Tina and June approached the plant while the others stayed behind to watch the food containers.  They looked at the plant, and there didn't seem to be anyone there.  "Shall we go in?" Tina asked.

            "I think the plan was that we do," June answered.  She pulled on the door…and nothing happened.  She pulled harder, and still nothing happened.

            "What is it?"

            "It's locked."

            "Great.  _Now _how're we supposed to get in?"

            "I have one idea," Youngdramon said.  "Dragon Bomb!"  The glass door shattered.

            "Youngdramon, are you crazy?!"

            "We needed to get in.  Now we can."

            "But we're trying to make a good impression on anyone who is here in the building.  Blowing up their door doesn't exactly do that."

            Youngdramon snarled.  "Okay, you win this argument."

            "What's gotten into you, Youngdramon?"

            "I don't know…I've been in a sour mood ever since I found my duct tape collection---destroyed when the nuke plant collapsed."

            "That explains it.  Don't worry, there will be other rolls of duct tape."

            June shouted into the power plant, "Hello??  Anybody here?"  There was no answer.

            "Man…creepy," Tina said.

            "No kidding.  Let's get in and out of here fast."

            They hadn't walked far before Tina screamed and pointed to a dead, but undecayed body, wearing a labcoat and holding a pen in his hand.  She yelled to June, "We need to get out of here _right now_!"

            "Why?"

            "This plant is swimming with radiation!  That guy died of radiation burns; if we don't leave soon, we'll end up just like him."

            They ran away from the plant and back to the others.  "We won't be living inside the plant; there's radiation in there that killed someone!"

            "Who?"

            "Nobody we know…I hope.  We didn't stick around to find out who it was."

            "Smart choice," Ken thought aloud.  "But we can't just sit around here; we need to find some place to sleep tonight.  We'll probably be safe enough from the radiation at this distance from the plant, assuming the plant didn't melt down."

            "I don't think they did.  If it had melted down, that guy we found wouldn't have stuck around, either.  I think the radiation is just inside the plant," Tina answered.

            "Good.  Then, with this many buildings between the plant and us, we'll be safe.  Let's just pick a building and go inside."

            They groped around in the dusty, dark interior of one of the shops.  "What was this place?" Tina asked.

            "Looks like it used to be a bank," Ash answered.

            "Think there'll be good places to hide if that guy shows up and takes the menace machines inside the 500 meter perimeter?"

            "Good question," Ken answered.  "But he'd have to make killing us a priority if he wanted to do that.  As far as we know, there's only one of him, and he can only be in one place at one time, so it's a hassle for him to come and attack.  And I don't think he even knows we're back, so we'll probably be okay…unless we miscalculated how close we are to the power plant."

            "Speaking of priorities, how're we supposed to find the others?" Ash asked.

            "I don't know, yet," Ken answered.  "If I were them and alive, I'd be trying to find everyone else, too…maybe try to find another nuke plant to hide out in."

            "But…" Tina was almost afraid to ask this question.  "What about…all the refugees we saved…?"

            Ken sighed.  "It's a safe bet that the others _tried_ to save them.  But we didn't find much human remains at the plant.  Maybe they got away."

            "You think so?" Tina asked.  (She was fumbling for hope.)

            "…What else could the reason for us not finding them be?"

            Tina sighed as she went over the list of possibilities in her mind.  She began using whatever she could to sweep dust away from one spot so she could lay down her bedroll there and sleep.

            It quickly turned out that she was fortunate to have her bedroll along:  the other had to make do for bedmaking.  Rain ponchos had to be substituted for blankets, and backpacks for pillows.  This wasn't very warm, especially for Rika, as she was the youngest that was with them.  Tina could hear her shivering, even though Renamon was holding her and trying to keep her warm with her fur.  Tina sighed.  She nudged Youngdramon.  "We're moving."

            "How far, how long?" Youngdramon groggily asked.

            "About four meters; it'll take about ten seconds to get there."  Tina picked up her bedroll and tiptoed over to Rika.  "You're cold?"

            "…A little…"

            Tina unzipped her sleeping bag and spread it over Rika and Renamon.  She crawled in, too, and rested her head on her pillow.  Hoping to find a friend to talk to in this disaster-movie-come-true, Tina asked, "One question…how're you holding up?"

            "Besides the dust, and freezing to death, and---"

            "I don't mean physically."

            "…You _know_ I hate mushy stuff," Rika spat.

            "Rika…"  Tina had never felt more alone before in her life:  her mother had disappeared, and---even though Tina had hated her mother's over-protectiveness---she now missed her in a way that cut her heart in two.  And then there was Ingrid…Tina had practically been Ingrid's mother, and the thought of having been away for weeks---or even _years_---and leaving Ingrid alone was as much torture as the thought of losing her mother.  Tina couldn't hold her tears in any longer.  She started sobbing.  At first, Rika didn't know she was crying, but then she began to hear it.

            Rika was silent for a while, then said, with a wavering voice, "Hey, quit it…you're going to get _me_ started…"

            Tina didn't answer.  Rika didn't push her away like she wanted to.  She felt Renamon lean forward to lick the teardrops off Tina's cheeks.  Rika didn't know why, but she almost felt like crying, too…everything that was familiar to her was gone.  That nuke plant was their safety, and---even though Rika had tried to be careful not to make friends or become attached to anything, she had failed in her attempts and felt the loss of the building weighing on her heart and squeezing the tears out of her eyes.  She tried not to make a sound and to breathe normally, but she couldn't.  Renamon felt Rika's quick breathing, and began licking tears off her face, too.

            "Keep your tongue to yourself," Rika spat.  She shouldn't have spoken:  Tina could tell from Rika's voice that she was crying, too, and Rika soon after felt Tina's warm hands wrap around her back and embrace her to give her a shoulder to cry on.  "No…stop it…please," Rika mewed.  She was helpless.  She didn't want to face her emotion, but she didn't want to fight Tina, either.  She was caught between a rock and a hard place, and the rock was crushing her.  "_Please,_" she whispered.

            "Rika…I don't know much about you, but I can tell you've been keeping your emotions at arm's length.  That's going to kill you faster than any menace machine."

            "Tina, I don't want to do this.  I'm not going to cry."

            "You'll snap if you don't."

            "**I'd rather snap,**" Rika shot back darkly.

            "You've been snapping your whole life, Rika, and that's why you're so messed up.  That's why you feel rotten all the time.  If you don't cry, you'll only make it harder for yourself."

            "**I _like_ hard**."

            "How can you?!  Those menace machines out there are hard.  Isn't there enough suffering on this planet without you snapping?"

            Tina felt a punch on her arm.  "Quit touching me.  _Now_."

            Renamon held Rika back so that she wouldn't be able to punch Tina again, but Tina turned away and let go.  "Someday, you're going to wish you cried, Rika," Tina angrily shot back.  "That's all I know."

            _As if!_ Rika thought to herself.

******

            "Sora, hang on!" Birdramon shouted.  She began flying in all kinds of strange maneuvers, trying to outfly the underbirds and lose them---not to mention avoid their shots.  But it just wasn't working; they were catching up and they were scoring more and more hits.

            "Birdramon!" Sora moaned as she saw her take shot after shot.  Finally, Birdramon could fly no longer, and she collapsed to the ground.  Birdramon covered Sora with her wing the way a mother bird covers her baby from a thunderstorm, and there was plenty to protect Sora from.  Sora could her the shots strike, and it wrenched her heart to see Birdramon continuously get hit.

            Her digivice glowed.  "What…?!"  There was a red, glowing insignia on her digivice, one that looked like a heart.  "But…that means…Birdramon, digivolve!!!"

            "**Birdramon, digivolve to…Demiphoenixmon!**"

            Sora stood wide-eyed as Birdramon became another, fiery bird.  Demiphoenixmon had a pair of metallic claws jutting out of her wings, and her flames were bright, cherry red.  "You…digivolved a _second time_?!" Sora asked.

            "Phoenix Claw!" Demiphoenixmon yelled as she sliced through the underbirds with her clawed, metal arms.  She blew a stream of flame out her mouth to finish off the rest:  "Wing Blade!"  She looked around, and that was the last of the underbirds.  She yelled down to Sora, "I'm as surprised at this as you are.  You must have your crest back."

            "That crest of love program that Tai told me about?"

            "It must have switched on when you couldn't stand my getting hit."

            "Speaking of, how are you doing?"

            "Don't worry; the damage was repaired the minute I digivolved, exactly like the time when I first digivolved to ultimate in the Digiworld.  Listen, we need to get out of here before I go back down to Biyomon."

            "But…where to?"

            "I don't know.  That's the problem; we need to find someplace where the underbirds won't find us…"

            They heard a scraping noise.  They saw Cody's head peek out of a manhole in an alley.  "Quick!" he shouted.  "In here!"

            "You think this is a trick?" Sora asked.

            "I don't know; it's just the thing one of those enemies would try---whoever they are."

            "Pika!" Pikachu shouted.

            "You…have an idea?" Sora asked.

            "Pi-_ka_-chu!"  Pikachu ran up to Cody and sniffed him all over to make sure he was a human being.  He looked down into the manhole, and saw that there wasn't a hoard of menace machines waiting to attack.  He gave Sora a thumbs up and climbed onto Cody's shoulders.

            Sora sighed.  "Either this'll get us killed, or we'll find the others.  I'm starting not to care which---"

            "Don't even _think_ like that, Sora!" Demiphoenixmon insisted as she regressed back to Biyomon.

            Sora let out a melancholy sigh.  She knew Biyomon was right.  She ran towards the manhole and climbed after Cody.  "Cody…wouldn't the underbirds find us in this place?"

            "No; for some reason the concrete and the underground pipes around here confuse their sonar."

            "Good to know _some_ place is safe."  She stepped off the ladder and picked Biyomon up.  She turned around with Biyomon still in her arms, and saw a sight that made her gasp.  There were forty or so refugees living in the storm sewers, and they were mostly in broken families---or _scrambled_ families, where the parents and children had switched ages.  It made a tear peek out her eye.

            "I wish I didn't have to show you this, but there's no other way in."

            "H-how do you keep them fed?"

            "There are two ways:  catch rats, or get Submarimon and Zudomon to go out on another fishing trip."

            Sora's head spun and she began to feel faint as the thought of her having to eat rats swam through her mind.  The thought of dozens of other people eating rats was no more reassuring.

            "I know; I didn't like the idea, either."

            Biyomon wiped a tear off Sora's face.  "We're still alive Sora…and that's a good thing."

            Sora squeezed back.  "Alive," she sighed.

            "Alive."


	4. Chapter 3: the Struggle to Survive

NOTE:  This chapter is edging on Christianity, but then again, for all anyone who is taking this out of context would know, I might be using Sikh philosophy! ...I'm not, by the way...

Chapter 3:  Struggle to Survive

            Ken felt like he was being watched as he slowly woke up.  When he opened his eyes, he found, that his daughter, Tina, was the one who was looking at her.  "Daddy," she said, wrapping her arms around him.

            "…Good morning to you, too, Tina."

            "I---I'm sorry if I woke you up."

            "That's okay."

            "I…have a reason for it.  It's that…I'm not taking you for granted the way I took Mom for granted."  She gave him a kiss on the cheek before she was done embracing him.

            "Don't worry.  We're going to find her back."

            "Dad…I know you're just trying to make me feel better.  But I'm old enough to understand that there is a good chance we _won't_ find her back alive."

            "There's just as good a chance that we will."

            "Dad, you're starting to get optimistic.  That is _not_ called for."

            Ken brushed his daughter's hair.  "Don't bet on it, kiddo."

            Tina sighed.  "So…what now?  We _need_ to look for the others, and we _need_ to find them."

            "I understand that.  But Wormmon and Veemon aren't 100%, yet.  Before we send out search parties, we need to let them recover so we'll have a mega if we need it."

            Tina looked at the ground.  "How long?"

            "Definitely by tomorrow morning.  Probably sooner."

            "I don't know if I can wait even _that_ long."  Tina got up.

            "Wait, where are you going?"

            "I'm going to have a look outside.  I _won't_ go far from the building, I promise."

            "A look…?"

            "I just have a feeling that I'll see something."

            "_Not yet._  If you get attacked, who's going to defend you? You and Youngdramon can look outside after you and Youngdramon eat breakfast."

            "But to get breakfast, we need to go outside.  The boxcars are still out there."

            "Oh…well, then, all right. Have a look. But make it quick."

            Tina, Ash, and Brock walked out of the bank and to the boxcar to get some food to carry back.  "I…couldn't help but notice that you were kind of mourning over your mother," Brock said.

            "Don't you have a mother?"

            "Yeah, but she died a few years ago.  And my dad moved away from home---for a _while_.  But, anyway, I was just thinking…there's more than one kind of family."

            "…Uh…what's your point?"

            Ash could see where this was going:  Brock was about to talk about marriage.  Just as Brock was about to open his mouth, Ash stomped on his foot.  "He means we're here for you if you need a shoulder to cry on."

            "Thanks…"  There was a short pause, then Tina added, "_Boy_, I wish I could get that much out of Rika!"

            "Rika?  That girl I thought was Misty when I first saw her?"

            "Yeah, her.  She's a genuine stick-in-the-mud!  She will not come to terms with her own feelings!  She like a boy!  ---No offense to either of you."

            "Oh, none taken," Brock answered.  "But you should know that what you just said isn't always true:  unlike Ash, I am _very _in touch with my emotions!"

            _No lie,_ Ash thought to himself.  _But I take that as a compliment to me!_

            Tina continued, "She was crying last night, and she forced herself to stop.  You know how much that _really_ hurts someone, to stop crying like that?"

            "I have a guess," Ash answered.  "I know what it's like to cry.  It happened when I had to say goodbye to an…old friend of mine."

            "He died?"

            "No…more like our destinies drew us apart."

            "Hmm.  Destiny.  What is destiny, anyways?"

            "Aren't you guys called 'Digidestined'?"

            "Well…yeah…"

            "Then you should know what destiny is all about, right?"

            "Well, I don't.  I just don't get it:  if God is controlling destiny, then why does this kind of thing happen?"

            Ash gave the question some thought as he loaded dead fish into an unused poncho to carry back to the bank.  "I'm not really good at questions like that.  Pokémon training is hard enough, let alone philosophy."

            "A-_HA_!" Tina answered.  "That proves my point."

            "You have a point?"

            "Well, yeah."

            "What is it?"

            "It's that…uh…destiny is weird."

            "I could've told _you_ that!" Ash shot back.

            Brock let out a hormone-induced sigh.  "But some things are just _meant_ to be!  Like you and---"

            Ash stomped on his foot and stopped his sentence dead cold, finishing it with a, "Youngdramon!  I mean, you two couldn't be better partners!  It was a match made in…purgatory!"

            Tina rolled her eyes.

            They entered the bank with their meals.  "Now, how to cook them…?" Ash wondered.  Then he slapped his forehead.  "Duh!  Quilava, I choose you!  Start up you flame, Quilava!"  Ash and Brock brought out whatever cooking gear they had in their backpacks, and they used Quilava's back as a stove to cook the fish.

            After about half an hour…  "Great breakfast.  Now what?" Tina asked.

            "We sit tight until Veemon and Wormmon recover, like I said earlier," Ken answered.  "And I know you're getting cabin fever, but you _must not_ go anywhere!"

            Tina rolled her eyes.  "If the suspense doesn't kill me, the boredom will!"

            "Boredom and suspense can't kill you.  A hungry saberstrike can.  You stay put."

            Tina sighed.  There was only one thing she knew to do when there was nothing to do:  sing.

            So she began a duet with Youngdramon: (1) "♫♪There's Antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,"

            "♪And hydrogen, and oxygen, and nitrogen, and rhenium, ♫"

            "And nickel, ♫ neodymium, neptunium, germanium,"

            "And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium! ♪"

            "…Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, ♪"

            "♪And lanthanum and osmium, and astatine and radium,"

            "And gold, protactinium, and indium, and gallium, ♫"

            "And iodine, and thorium, and thulium ♫ and thallium."

            "…There's yttrium, ♫ ytterbium, actinium rubidium,"

            "And boron, gadolinium ♪, niobium, iridium,"

            "And ♪ strontium, and silicon, and silver, and ♪ samarium,"

            "And bismuth, bromine, ♫ lithium, beryllium, and barium! ♫"

            "There's ♪ holmium, and helium, and hafnium, and erbium,"

            "And phosphorus, ♫ and francium, and fluorine and terbium, ♫"

            "And manganese, and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,"

            "Dysprosium, and ♫ scandium, and curium, ♪ and cesium."

            "And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, ♪ plutonium,"

            "♫ Palladium, promethium---"

            "_TINA!_" everyone except Youngdramon yelled.  "Why did you _have_ to teach Youngdramon that song?!" Davis moaned.

            "Hey, I have to do _something_!"

            "You have to avoid singing that song, that's what you have to do!" Davis spat.  "Stop it, already!  It's annoying!"

            Veemon yawned.  "Finally, quiet!  …Well, g'night!" he said, dropping the visor of his helmet with a crash and plopping on the floor.

            "Lucky.  He can sleep all day; my metabolism won't let me do that!" Tina muttered.

            June nudged Davis.  She whispered, "You do know this'll kill us, right?  Keeping her cooped up in here, I mean?"

            "I know, but it'll kill _her_ if we don't!"

******

            Blackwargreymon was royally ticked:  he and his allies had been driven out of their "home", and he hadn't been able to defend his turf.  They had barely shut down the reactor, let alone escaped with their lives.  But now, Blackwargreymon refused to submit himself to eating rats:  he had a better idea, and everyone who heard the idea knew it.  He silently flew through the air, and spotted a proud-looking male deer.  This one had a huge rack of antlers that made one wonder how he managed to get around in the forest:  you'd think those antlers would be too wide to let him move between trees, they were so big.  As soon as Blackwargreymon saw this deer, he thought to himself, _Quarry!  _Before the deer knew what was going on, Blackwargreymon had killed it and was carrying it back to the storm sewers to feed himself and the refugees.  He flew out of the forest and followed the highways back to Tokyo.  Given his speed, he made this trip in a few minutes, and was only a few blocks away from the hideout in the storm sewers when…

            "So _here_ you are!" The Unnamed Figure sneered.

            Blackwargreymon stopped.  "_YOU!!_" he howled in disgust, pointing his claw at The Unnamed Figure.  "You're the one who forced us out of our base!  This is your fault!"

            "That it is.  So…interested in revenge?"

            Blackwargreymon began to think about this.  _This young man knows no honor…he must have **some** reason for attacking me that won't be good…_ "What's it to you if I am?  Maybe it's because you're scared of what I'll do if I decide to take revenge?"

            "No:  because you should be scared.  I'd like you to meet one of my…_newer_ recruits.  Darkpatamon?"  A black-furred version of Patamon stepped out of the shadows.  It had one of its wings pierced with a gold earring, which might've made flying painful.  "**Digi-modify!****  Digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Darkpatamon, digivolve to…Avatarmon!**"  Avatarmon looked like Angemon in that it had six wings and a robe, but the robe was made of jagged gold instead of white wool, and the hood of the robe obscured its face. Only a pair of glowing, purple eyes was visible.

            "You would face me with a champion?" Blackwargreymon sneered.  "Terra Destroyer!"

            "Fallen angel rod!" Avatarmon yelled back as he reflected the fireball back at Blackwargreymon.

            _I see the game, now, Blackwargreymon thought as he dodged the fireball.  His first urge was to drop the deer and use Black Tornado, but his better judgment told him otherwise.  "I have better things to do than waste my time fighting faceless cowards like you."  Blackwargreymon gripped the deer and flew away as fast as he could._

            "That didn't go quite as we had planned," Avatarmon thought aloud.  "You know how the sub-major looks upon failure."

            "Don't worry, Avatarmon.  We can catch up to him."

            "You _do_ realize that---in this form---I'm not as much of a match for him as you would have him think?"

            "I don't expect you to stay in this form forever.  Pangolimon?"   

            Pangolimon stepped out of the darkness of an alleyway and shouted, "Hit me!"

            "**Digi-modify!****  Digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Pangolimon, digivolve to…Glyptodomon!**"

            "And now, since we stole a copy of the lens from that 'Tina' girl's digivice…**Digi-modify!  DNA digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Glyptodomon!**"

            "**Avatarmon!**"

            "**DNA digivolve to…Shakkoumon!**"  This version of Shakkoumon looked like the one that Angemon and Ankylomon had digivolved into, except that, instead of white, this version's color was marble black, and the golden moldings that ringed Shakkoumon's first form were a hard, tarnished platinum.

            "Hmm…a good fighter, but tough to ride.  ♫Oh, Ewemon…?♫   **Digi-modify!  Digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

            The Unnamed Figure climbed onto Impostrogarurumon's back.  "Time we got moving!  After him, Shakkoumon!"  They chased Blackwargreymon down, and it wasn't long before Shakkoumon began to take pot-shots at Blackwargreymon.

            Blackwargreymon began to sense that running wouldn't solve this problem.  He set down the deer and put his claws together.  "Terra Destroyer!"

            Shakkoumon opened the port in its belly and suck the fireball in.  "You're not beating me!  Harmonious Spirit!"  It fired a pair of blue beams out its eyes at Blackwargreymon.  Blackwargreymon took off his wing panels and made them into a shield to block the attack.

            "Frankly, I'm sick of dealing with you!  Time to end this!  Black tornado!"  Blackwargreymon spun himself into a twister of black energy.  But he knew that Shakkoumon would try to suck his attack into the port in its chest, so he circled Shakkoumon instead so that Shakkoumon wouldn't be able to get a bead on him.

            "This isn't going my way," The Unnamed Figure sighed.  "Oh, well…**Digi-modify!****  Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Impostrogarurumon, digivolve to…Houndramon!**"

            "**Shakkoumon, mega-digivolve to…**"

(1)        The Elements was a song written by Tom Lehrer, from the album "An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer", published by the Reprise Record Company, 1959, #6199.  (Mumbling to himself:  I _will_ get through that song, someday!)


	5. Chapter 4: Raging

Chapter 4:  Raging

            "**Shakkoumon, mega-digivolve to…Totemmon!**"  Totemmon looked like a tree stump that floated in the air.  It had the scowling, screaming face of some bird of prey carved on its front side, and it had a pair of stubby wings protruding out either side.  It was made of dark, brown wood.

            Blackwargreymon had a pretty good guess that this was a mega digimon, and that this would be a difficult fight.  But he spun his Black tornado attack into its side and did his best to make a wound.

            "Thunder Torrent!" Houndramon shouted, firing a blast of electricity out its mouth.  Blackwargreymon stopped his attack and dodged beneath the shot.

            Blackwargreymon flew away form the two digimon so that he'd be able to see both.  "Terra Destroyer!" he shouted, winding up his attack.

            "Destructor beam!" Totemmon shouted.  A white beam of light shone out its mouth and sliced Blackwargreymon's attack right out of his hands.  It also cut a very clean hole in  skyscraper behind Blackwargreymon, so Blackwargreymon knew that this digimon had some firepower backing it up.  "Still think you can take me on??"

            "Funny, I was about to ask _you_ that!  Black tornado!"  Blackwargreymon spiraled around Totemmon and kept it from getting a clean shot at him.  Blackwargreymon occasionally came in for a hit and nicked off a bit here and a chunk there from Totemmon's body.

            "No!" The Unnamed Figure shouted.  "**Digi-modify!****  Speed, activate!**"

            Totemmon began matching Blackwargreymon's speed and managed to get Blackwargreymon in its sights.  "Destructor beam!"

            Blackwargreymon took off his wing panels and reflected the beam back into Totemmon's mouth.  The blast went right through Totemmon's hollow body and out the other side.  Totemmon became Darkpatamon and Pangolimon again.

            Blackwargreymon landed.  The attack had erased his shield panels, but he would recover new ones eventually.

            "Aren't you forgetting something?" The Unnamed Figure asked.

            "Ah, yes.  Thank you for reminding me," Blackwargreymon said as he wound up another fireball to do away with Houndramon.

            The Unnamed Figure put his dodrio's pokéball in his D-Gauntlet.  "**Digi-modify!****  Co-Op Digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Houndramon, co-op digivolve to…Saberus!**"  Saberus was a three-headed dog with huge teeth.

            Blackwargreymon readied himself for a fight.

            "Tri attack!" Saberus shouted.  A stream of flame, a bolt of lightning, and a beam of icy energy flew at Blackwargreymon, one attack from each mouth.  Blackwargreymon dodged each.

            "Terra Destroyer!"  Blackwargreymon hurled a bomb of fire at Saberus, but Saberus cancelled it with a blast of ice.

            "Hyper Fang!"  Saberus rushed at Blackwargreymon and tried to bite him, and Blackwargreymon barely had time to dodge out of the way.

            _So…it still has its speed modification once it co-op digivolves,_ Blackwargreymon thought.  _I just hope it's earthbound…_  Blackwargreymon picked up the deer and flew into the air, hoping to wear out his opponent by leading it on a wild goose chase.  Unfortunately, his plan failed:  Saberus leapt up and bit Blackwargreymon on his bare arm, and Blackwargreymon had to hold his arm to stop the loss of blood.  But there was something strange about this…Saberus immediately broke off its attack as soon as it had bitten him…

            "I _really_ don't like the way that went," Blackwargreymon thought aloud.  He would have to recuperate for a long time before his wing panels would be useful again.  He sighed, and he flew down into the storm sewers with the deer still on his shoulders.  "I have good news and bad news," Blackwargreymon yelled as he descended the ladder.  "The good news is I found a deer…the bad news is---"

            Ghenki's eyes grew a decimeter as he saw Blackwargreymon's wounds.  "You need to have Dr. Kido see those right now!"

            "I know," Blackwargreymon agreed.  "But make sure this meat gets in the people's stomachs."

            "What got you, anyhow?"

            "I'm not exactly sure…I believe the human traitor has a few more tricks up his sleeve than we'd hoped…"

******

            "♫♪This is the song that never ends,

            "Yes it goes on and on my friend," (1)

            "Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, ♫♪

            "And they'll continue singing it forever just because

            "This is the song that never ends, ♫ yes it goes on and on my friend!

            "♫ Some people started---"

            Rika held her hands over her ears.  Finally, she reached for Youngdramon's duct tape, tore off a piece, and taped Tina's mouth shut.

            "Hey!  That's my personal space!  Don't you go touching my duct tape!" Youngdramon snarled, covering the duct tape roll on her arm.

            "Don't _you_ go letting Tina annoy me like that!" Rika shot back.  "It's bad enough being cooped up in here _without_ her singing!"

            "_It's bad enough being cooped up here without her singing!_" Youngdramon repeated with a nasal tone.

            "…_Or_ you mocking and repeating every last little thing I do!"     

            "_Or you mocking and repeating every last little thing I do!_"

            Rika decided to just stop talking at that point.  As usual, it was no use speaking with Youngdramon, but in a different way, this time.  She let out a disgusted sigh, which Youngdramon mimicked perfectly.  Rika got up and walked into the bank's restroom.  Somehow, the water still ran in there.  Youngdramon followed her in.  They walked into the stalls, out of the stalls, washed their hands (or front claws, in Youngdramon's case), and exited the bathroom in perfect unison.  Rika sat down next to Renamon.  "Renamon, would you please protect me from that dragon over there?" Rika asked.

            "_Renamon, will you please protect me from that dragon over there?_"

            "I don't want to know, but I have a feeling that I do, anyway," Renamon answered, sitting down between Rika and Youngdramon so that Youngdramon wouldn't be able to see her.

            "That's very true; you don't want to know," Rika answered.

            Renamon tucked an arm around Rika and gave her a little squeeze, all the while keeping an eye on Youngdramon.

            Youngdramon sat down next to Tina.  "Man…uptight little pair, huh?"

            Taking the tape off her mouth, Tina agreed, "Yeah.  It's a wonder we ever got along as roommates, isn't it?"

            "No kidding.  …Do we apologize?"

            "Not just yet.  Wait until she's not ticked."

            "…One question…_did_ we ever get along with her?"

            "Come to think of it, I don't know," Tina answered.  "Oh, well…we'll just wait it out."

            "What'll we do in the meantime?" Youngdramon asked.  (She was setting up for a joke.)

            "What were we doing before this started?"

            "Waiting."

            "And what were we doing while we were waiting?"

            "Oh, that's right!  …♫This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my---"

            Rika moaned.  Then she thought to herself, _There's__ only one way to stop this._  She began to walk towards Tina with a genuine, spiteful scowl.  She kept staring at Tina with her scowl as she walked up to her and stood in front of her.  She glowered at Tina as if to say, "Stop singing that annoying music!" but Tina only kept singing it, and she had difficulty keeping a straight face as she sang it.  Tina actually smiled at Rika as she sang.

            _That_ was the last straw.  Rika had gotten a lot of hate built up in her over the past few days, and it was too much.  She grabbed onto Tina's glasses, knowing that Yolei had considered the glasses some kind of Holy Grail of her personality.  Tina grabbed the glasses, too, and a tug-of-war started.  As Tina looked into Rika's eyes, she began to realize that this spite in Rika was real; she wasn't pretending, and she wasn't having fun like Tina was.  Tina had really been torturing the poor girl on the inside.  Tina let go of the glasses with a surprised look on her face.  Rika took them and tried to tear them in two, but she wasn't quite strong enough.  Tina waited until Rika stopped trying to tear them apart, then quickly snatched them back.  "If that's the way you really felt, you should've said something."

            Rika slapped Tina across the face, and it made a loud noise.

            Ken looked at the fight.  He started walking toward them.  "Hey, children!  Break it up!  We can't afford to fight amongst ourselves!"  He took Rika by the wrist and dragged her away.  He was shouting so that both girls would hear him.  "I don't know or care who started this, but I'm ending it.  And if I see either of you fighting again, you'll get corporal punishment!" Ken threw Rika down next to Renamon.

            Rika was a little satisfied:  she'd gotten across that Tina really shouldn't be irritating her, and Tina didn't sing for the rest of the afternoon.  And Ken had a heart-to-heart with his daughter, which was an added bonus.  But it wasn't so great when Ken was holding Tina by the shoulder and was taking her to Rika.

            While they were still coming towards her and before either of them had said anything to her, Rika blurted, "What is this, an apology?  You aren't really sorry!"

            "But I _am_ sorry, Rika!" Tina insisted.

            "You…are…_not_!" Rika thundered.  "Keep your mushy little guilt-speech to yourself; I don't even want to hear it!"

            "But---"

            "_Get out of here!!!_" Rika screamed, lunging up at Tina with balled fists.  Renamon held her back, but Rika kept struggling to attack Tina.

            "That's enough, Renamon!" Ken shouted.  He threw Tina behind his back and drew out his whip.

            "Daddy, _no_!" Tina yelled.  Ken didn't listen:  he pulled up Rika's blouse so that his whip would hit skin instead of cloth.  Blow after blow fell on Rika's back, until Rika collapsed in a mess of tears and adrenaline.

            Tina watched the entire thing, not knowing how to react:  should she hold her dad back, or not?  She didn't make up her mind in time:  her dad was done before she did anything.  Ken reached for his daughter and escorted her back to where she had been sitting before.  He yelled over his shoulder as he moved his daughter away, "Renamon, get her bandaged up."  Ken sat next to his daughter to make sure nothing else would happen.  "Tina, why do I have to do this?  You're thirteen years old; you should be mature enough not to get into fights!"

            "Dad, I wasn't lying to you _or_ Rika.  I _am_ sorry for singing at her like that!"

            "Then why did you?"

            "Because…" Tina sighed.  "Okay, it was because I was bored…and because I didn't think she was that ticked off for what I was doing."

            "You're her roommate; you should know better than anyone how angry she can become."

            "I know…I should've thought of that…but she never opens up and talks about her feelings!  How am I supposed to know what's going through her head??"

            Ken sighed.  "We're going to need to keep you two separate."

            "But---!"

            "What good reason do you have for getting near her again?"

            "…I guess it's because I want to make it up to her."

            "She won't accept your apologies; she's too far-gone for that."

            "So what am I supposed to do?"

            "Keep away from her."

            Tina buried her face in her hands.

            Joey poked his head out of Tina's overalls pocket.  "Dad no need tell Tina that.  Joey can tell her that Tina should keep away from Rika."

            Tina pushed Joey back into the pocket.

(1)  For those of you who don't know (hey, it's a big planet:  it could happen!) this song was sung at the end of every episode of the kid's TV show "Lampchop's Play-Along", much to the chagrin of the host of that show:  she found it unbearably annoying, as does Rika.  I have no idea where the writers of that show got the song---maybe they made it up, I don't know.


	6. Chapter 5: Peak and Rising

NOTE:  This isn't about Christian content (yet), but it'll be bad for Rika-lovers.

Chapter 5:  Peak and Rising

            Joe shook his head.  "It's the best I can do, Blackwargreymon.  It'll scar, but you'll survive."

            "It will have to suffice.  And I would actually enjoy a few battle scars."

            "But without proper nourishment, you'll never recover, and nourishment is a problem."

            "I understand that much.  Energy for energy, there is more to be gained from hunting for deer than there is to be lost."

            "I hope so.  Under normal circumstances, I'd tell you not to go out again, but we may need you to, and _you_ may need you to so that you can go hunting and get enough meat to recover."

            "One bad arm doesn't stop me from hunting," Blackwargreymon answered.  "It only makes it difficult for me to carry back what I find."

            "That's not good.  Sounds like our best option is to actually give you leave.  That way, you'll stay in the woods and get enough meat to live until you recover from your wounds."

            "That would, indeed, be the most helpful to me.  But wouldn't that put you at a loss?"

            Joe shook his head.  "If you don't recover from that wound, we'll lose you forever.  If you recover this way, then we'll lose you temporarily."

            "Put that way, I can see your gain.  And I need to recover my weapons…one of my gauntlets and my shield are gone form previous fights with the Human Traitor."

            "Just watch your back while you're out there," Joe cautioned.

******

            "We have unsettling news, sir."

            "What have you to report?"

            "It is that the sample we took was damaged and does not grant us all that we expected to gain:  we cannot copy it.  We lack the resources necessary.  But all is not lost."

            "Go on."

            "We will yet be able to learn how to achieve our goal from the data we collected.  And we have another option:  should we find a similar creature, we will be able to reproduce the necessary elements.  Or if this one lives, we will succeed.  There is still the hurdle of overcoming the ultimate barrier, but that shouldn't prove a problem for long."

            The sub-major had a pensive look on his face.

            "I am at your disposal, sir."

            "I see more to be gained from your continued life than to be gained from your termination from this failure.  Continue the project, and begin another project to find a substitute."

******

            Renamon bandaged Rika's wounds up without knowing what to say to her…so she didn't say anything.  Rika didn't say anything, either, but she had a spiteful, pensive look on her face the entire time:  the look of someone who was planning a murder.  Renamon didn't want to guess what was going through Rika's head, so she didn't.

            Renamon took Rika back to the room where they had been staying, and, by now, it was time for them to go to sleep.  Renamon wrapped Rika in whatever blankets they could get their hands on, and rested her head on a few balled-up jackets as a pillow.  Renamon hoped Rika would be over it by morning.

            Rika wasn't so optimistic:  she didn't expect to need to put up with the cold or poor-quality bedding for long.  As soon as she knew that Renamon was asleep she silently and slowly got up, and walked to the janitor's closet.  She'd heard time and time again that it was the worst cleaning no-no to mix bleach and ammonia, because that would create some sort of poison fume that was unbelievably deadly.  She hoped it was true, and she hoped that she'd be able to find something with ammonia in it in the closet.

            A chill ran up her spine as the janitor's closet door made a noise as she opened it.  She looked around.  Nobody seemed to be looking back at her; she hadn't awoken anybody.  She fumbled around for bottles full of liquid, and she finally found a bottle of window cleaner and a bottle of bleach.  That was enough.

            Rika took both bottles and walked slowly into the bathroom.  She kept her eyes on the two bottles the entire time.  She knelt on the tile floor, holding the two bottles, and looked more introspective than Prince Hamlet during a soliloquy.  She was breathing heavily, and beads of ice cold sweat trickled down her face.  This was it, and Rika was having second thoughts.  The idea of her own death felt strange…as if some unseen force was holding her back.  She definitely felt fear, but she felt something else---she'd never felt this kind of fear before.  There were two forces in her brain:  one telling her to end her misery and her beatings, and another telling her to endure those beatings.  Both sides were tearing at her:  how does her present suffering compare with what was on the other side of death?  Was there a hell over there which would be even worse than this, where Tina would annoy her for all eternity, or where she'd constantly be beaten with a whip?  Or was it just inexistence…?

            Either possibility was terrifying:  what was inexistence like?  She didn't remember before she was born, and before that was supposedly inexistence.  So inexistence was where she came from; why was she so terrified of going back?  She couldn't remember anything before her birth, or even anything before her second birthday.  If before her second birthday was what inexistence was like, then death wasn't hell at all.  But then again…

            Rika sat there, wondering whether or not she should go the whole nine yards and kill herself.  She felt unbelievably torn, and tears soon mixed with the cold sweat that covered her face.  Her hands shook, her teeth chattered, and her breathing was so loud she wondered if she wouldn't wake up the others with it.

            Finally, Rika told herself, _Enough__ of this!  If I don't go through with this, I won't be able to live with myself!  What's the alternative to pouring the bleach and ammonia together?  It's to put this stuff back and sit down with Renamon again.  Put this stuff back, when I've come this far??  Never! I **can't** do that!_  So, with a shaking hand, she poured the ammonia out on the bathroom floor.  She didn't leave a drop in the bottle; she wanted there to be enough fumes to make the death work.

            Now, it was time for the other bottle.  Rika could've wet her pants with all the fear that suddenly gripped her.  She thought she heard a voice say, "Don't, child," in her head.  She was terrified, and the bottle of bleach shook in her hands.  But she uncapped the bottle, and began to tilt it towards the puddle of ammonia…


	7. Chapter 6: Shock

NOTE:  Christian content in the first scene, and it would be _especially_ offensive to people who believe that there are many ways to get what you want, spiritually.  Reader discretion advised.

Chapter 6:  Shock

            **_BAM!!_**

            The flick of a light switch was usually the quietest thing Rika ever heard, but the noise of this switch felt as loud and as shocking as a gunshot.  She looked up, and felt like she'd been seen naked.  It was Tina, the core of hatred in Rika's mind, and she had discovered Rika.  And Tina was smart enough to realize in a second that Rika was trying to kill herself with chlorine fumes, and that she'd caught her just in the nick of time…she hoped.

            Rika's hand shook as she tried to hold on to what hope she had left:  dying would free her from the shame and guilt of having been discovered trying to kill herself.  She tried to pour out the bleach.

            Tina lunged at Rika the same way Rika had lunged at her, but this time, it was out of love, not hatred, and it was to protect, not to hurt.  The bottle of bleach went flying out of Rika's hand into a toilet, and Tina fell on top of Rika like a lioness on a gazelle.  Rika struggled against Tina, but Tina was older and stronger than she was, and Rika only succeeded in getting her blouse wet with window cleaner in struggling to get free.

            Finally, Rika felt too weak to struggle any more.  Her face was pressed against the tile floor, and she could feel Tina hanging on to her, keeping her arms behind her back in a painful twist, and keeping her legs from moving, too.  Rika was tired and in a lethally depressed rage:  her ground had been torn out from under her.  She had nothing, and she had been reduced to nothing.  She started sobbing loudly, and her sobbing echoed through the bathroom and through her mind.  "You're killing me!" Rika moaned through her sobs.

            "I'm saving your life!"

            "I don't want my stupid life!"

            "Jesus didn't give you your life so that you could throw it away just because you got scared and chickened out on living!"

            "I don't believe in your God!   _You_ don't believe in your God!"

            "I do too!  …I admit it, I've had my doubts, but why else would I come in here the minute you decided to kill yourself, unless God wanted that to happen?"

            "That's not the work of a good God, that's the work of some demon!  I don't want to live, now let me die!  Let me go and let me kill myself!!!"

            "Is that what you want?  Because I haven't been able to get two words out of you about what you want!  Tell me what you want!  _Tell me!!_"

            "I want to kill myself; I want to kill you; I want to kill _everyone_!!" Rika sobbed.  "I hate you!  I hate your stupid God for keeping me from dying!  I hate your stupid dad for whipping me!!  _I hate everything_!!!"  Rika broke into sobs that slowly wound down.

            Tina rested her head next to Rika's as she calmed down.  "There.  You said it."

            "Said what?  What are words worth?" Rika thundered.

            "You got a lot off your chest.  …But you're wrong.  What you said was all wrong."

            Rika didn't answer.

            "Rika, you were wrong to think that killing yourself would solve anything.  You don't know what being dead is like.  I don't want to sound like I'm preaching fire and brimstone at you, but hell is no fun, and…and that's just the way things are with death.  There's only one way out of hell, and that's Jesus."

            "_Your_ God?  ...He kept me from dying?"

            "You don't know anything about him, do you?  For all you know, he might've lived in Australia."

            "All I know is He's the only thing between me and what I want."

            "You don't want to die."

            "Yes...I...**_DO!!!_**" Rika said that with such force that Tina wrenched her arm into the pain position to discipline her.

            "Rika, you have no clue what you're saying.  You're so mixed up that Ingrid is doing better than you are."

            "I don't know who Ingrid is, either."

            "You don't have to.  But it's time you heard the truth about what you're going through:  you have been alone all your life.  You don't open up to anyone.  It wasn't until you told me how you felt that you finally calmed down.  It's not opening up that would've killed you:  not me, not my dad, and definitely not Jesus---my God."

            "You're saying that I'm doing this to _myself_?" Rika asked.  Tina couldn't tell from Rika's tone whether she believed it or not.

            Tina sighed.  "Yes…you're doing this to yourself.  And…maybe I did a little, too…I'm sorry." A warm tear fell out of Tina's eye and fell on Rika's neck.

            Rika's head spun.  She'd felt so confused and so beaten that she couldn't think anymore, and she wouldn't be able to accept anything as true either way:  she didn't have the brainpower to accept that she didn't have to die, but she didn't have the brainpower to accept that she _would_ have to die, either.

            Tina waited for Rika to say something, but Rika didn't say anything for a long time.  So Tina broke the silence and said to her, "I know you're scared and alone.  But you need to sleep.  Please…come with me, back out into the room, and I'll be right next to you, so that you won't be alone. And Jesus is here, too, and He loves you...He just wants the best for you...trust Him when He says you don't have to die..._please_..."

            Rika sniffled.

            Tina slowly loosed her grip on Rika, and extended her hand down to her.  Rika looked up at her with uncertainty… what was the right choice?  This was her time:  which path would she take, and would that path lead to happiness or tears?

            Finally, Rika made her decision, and took hold of Tina's hand.

******

            "**Golden armor, energize!**"

            "**Gatomon, golden-armor digivolve to…Quadrigamon, the chariot of light!**"  Quadrigamon's shields glowed yellow as she flew up into the air.  "Golden hubcaps!"  She fired a pair of yellow discs at her counterpart.

            Without digivolving, Blackgatomon smacked the discs with its paws and knocked them back at her.  Quadrigamon dodged under the returned discs.

            "This doesn't look good, Kari," Quadrigamon thought aloud, landing next to her.

            "This looked bad from the minute they dragged me out of my kindergarten class!" Kari answered.  "Don't give up get; she's a champion and you're a golden armor digimon!"

            "Don't get overconfident!" The Unnamed Figure shot back.  "Jaymon, are you ready?"

            "Ready as I'll ever be."

            "Then let's go for it!  **Digi-modify!  Digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**"                    

            "And now, for something you'll enjoy…**Digi-modify!  DNA digivolution, activate!**"

            "**Nekhbetmon!**"

            "**Blackgatomon!**"

            "**DNA digivolve to…Silphymon!**"  This version of Silphymon looked like the first, but only in that it was the same size and human-like.  But it was different in other ways:  its skin was black, and its hair was dyed an unnatural neon green.  Through its hair were laced several poisonous flowers.  It wore a camouflage, studded jacket, and it had white wading boots covering its feet.  Its feathers were blue-green, like Jaymon's had been.  On the whole, it looked like a precise reversal of Swampangemon.

            "Now that looks _really_ off!" Quadrigamon thought aloud.

            "Amen," Suezo agreed.  "I've seen some pretty tough monsters with my one eye, but this one takes the cake…after that Imperialdramon guy."

            "Astro laser!" Silphymon shouted, hurling a ball of green, electric flame at them.  Suezo beamed himself, Takato, Moochi, and Yolei out of the way of the blast.

            Quadrigamon shouted, "Kari, if that thing can do everything I could as Swampangemon, you and Yolei will _have _to DNA digivolve!"

            "Can this get any worse?" Kari moaned.

            "Let's not wait to find out, chi!" Moochi yelled.  "Cherry blossom blizzard!"  He fired a blast of flower petals at Silphymon.

            Silphymon plucked a flower out of its hair.  "Lily umbrage!" it shouted, growing the flower to a one-meter diameter and blocking the blast from itself.

            "Great, they improved on the form, while they were at it!" Yolei spat. 

            "Which one of us fights?" Takato asked.

            Yolei answered, "Kari and I will take this guy!  Ready, Hawkmon?"

            "Indubitably!"

            "_Stay_ ready," Quadrigamon insisted.  "We should wait for a DNA digivolution until _after_ what we've already tried fails!  Plasma Lash!"  Quadrigamon cracked her whip at Silphymon's shield.  Black ash-marks appeared on the organic shield, but the whip didn't penetrate.

            "I'm getting tired of this!" The Unnamed Figure muttered.  "**Digi-modify!****  Speed, activate!**"

            Silphymon circled around Quadrigamon and tore her whip out of her hands.  "Now let's see how you like this!" Silphymon sneered.  It wound up for a slash, but the fiery whip disappeared, leaving only a golden handle in Silphymon's hands.

            "That's part of my body," Quadrigamon explained.  "You can't control that attack; I still control it!"  A spurt of flame from the whip jumped out at Silphymon's face as Silphymon was looking at the whip.  Quadrigamon chuckled as Silphymon hurled the weapon away.  "And I thought this would be a tough battle!  Looks like they sacrificed brains for brawn when they cranked you out of the old mainframe, huh?"

            "I'll make you regret saying that!" Silphymon shouted as it lunged at her.  Quadrigamon and Silphymon got into a fistfight, and ended up strangling each other.

            "This doesn't look good!"

            Moochi stepped forward again.  "Moochi cannon!" he shouted as he spat a red laser beam in Silphymon's face.  Silphymon's grip came loose, and Quadrigamon quickly got the upper hand and hurled her opponent to the ground. 

            "Not so fast," The Unnamed Figure sneered.  "**Digi-modify!****  Recovery, activate!**"  Silphymon's wounds sealed and it got up for another fight.

            "This isn't getting us anywhere," Yolei shouted.  "We need to take that thing out, and we need to do it now!"

            "There's another option," Suezo answered.

            "What's that?" Quadrigamon asked.

            "We can…Teleport!"  They all vanished in a flash of purple light.

            The Unnamed Figure frowned.  "Well, now we know who to take out first, don't we?" he asked Silphymon.

            "I'll make it a point next time I see them," it answered.

            The heroes and the orphans they were defending fell out of the teleport attack in a heap not far away.  Groaning, Quadrigamon asked, "Is your teleport attack _always_ this flaky?"

            "Hey, it got us away from them, didn't it?" 

            Quadrigamon regressed back to Gatomon.  "You know, I'm starting to get sick of that guy," she thought aloud.  "He's the one who trashed the nuke plant, and he probably killed all those refugees, too!"

            Yolei moaned.  "If only Imperialdramon had been there!  Or if more people from the navy ship were alive!"

            "Relax, Yolei.  There's not much that can take Imperialdramon down.  Even if they don't come back before we die of old age---or whatever---then they'll be in good hands."

            Yolei sighed and covered her face.

            "It does you no good to worry like this."

            "I know, I know…"

            "Come on.  Let's get to some place where we can sleep out of the elements.  Hopefully, he won't find us there."


	8. Chapter 7: Hope and Despair

Chapter 7: Hope and Despair

As far as anybody else in the building knew, nothing had happened in the bathroom the previous night---except that somebody had spilled window cleaner all over the bathroom floor. They didn't know there had been a fight. In fact, they thought that Tina and Rika had reconciled and were friends again, considering that they found Rika asleep in Tina's embrace wearing Tina's rain jacket for warmth, as her own shirt was hanging on a line, freshly washed.

Rika was a little speechless after that morning, and more introverted than usual. She didn't lash out at anyone because she knew she'd been wrong before. She was still ashamed and scared. Tina knew how she felt and kept a close eye on her, and every time they made eye contact, Tina smiled at her. (Tina was careful not to have too big a smile; she didn't want to look like she was gloating.)

"So…" Ash asked impatiently as he got up. "Are we ready to leave yet?"

"I feel a load better now," Veemon answered as he polished his helmet. "But you try being a mega digimon for twelve hours straight, and we'll see how great you feel!"

Wormmon got up and crawled next to him. "I'm ready to leave when you are."

"Then let's get out of here, already!" Ash shouted.

Tina rolled up her sleeping bag and packed up what they had brought along. "So…what're we going to do about those two containers of food?" she asked her dad.

"The bananas are only going to stay fresh for so long," Ken answered, sadly. "I guess we just have to leave them there…"

Tina wasn't looking so somber. She had a look on her face like she had an idea, and that look scared Rika: it was the same look Tina got when she had an idea for a prank. But Tina's idea wasn't a prank at all: her idea was to have several of the flying fighters pick up the fruit and meat boxcars, and then carry them to the top of Mt. Fuji…or, at least, partway up slope. High enough so that it would be could enough to refrigerate them.

"This is the craziest idea you've ever had," Ikudramon said as she, Stingmon, Charizard, Pidgeot, Exveemon, and Firabbit carried the boxcar higher and higher into the air.

"You think it's a _bad_ idea?"

"It sure f-f-f-feels like it!" Ash answered, shivering from the cold.

"Oh, quit complaining!" Tina shot back. "Don't worry about the weather, it's just---"

As she said this, a spray of sleet filled the air. Ash pulled his raincoat out of his backpack, and thought to himself how he _really_ wished that he had with him something warmer than a slicker. "Any other things you want to talk about?" Ash asked.

"Oh, cool off!"

"That's not very funny!" Ash spat as he inched closer to Firabbit, and the hot exhaust that was flying out of his feet. But it was about then that Ash noticed how angry and distracted Firabbit seemed to be. "Hey, what's got you all grouchy?"

"Oh, nothing much…just the thought of _Tiger_, back at the ranch with Renamon!"

"…Do I want to know?"

Firabbit grumbled. "Has anyone ever stolen your girlfriend before?"

"I don't think so…_well_…maybe once. But I don't think of her as a girlfriend."

"Do _I_ want to know?" Noticing the look on Ash's face, Firabbit answered his own question: "Probably not. But you're lucky that it was only once! Tiger has been trying to steal her for weeks!"

"Renamon is your girlfriend?"

"I _hope_," Firabbit muttered. "I bet he's back there, trying to woo her!"

"I dunno…Renamon is a pretty faithful gal; if she's really your girlfriend, then she'd ignore him. I wonder what is going on back there…?"

******

"I thought that we were too close to a power plant to be attacked!" Brock shouted.

"I guess we aren't," June answered, throwing her younger brother's digi-egg to Tiger.

"**Tiger, module-evolve to…Thunderdog!**" Thunderdog fired bolts of lightning at the incoming gorillouts, but it just wasn't cutting it. More gorillouts kept coming, and, for every one he destroyed, it seemed like the rest came five meters closer.

"YoNon Gazrii!" They started firing blue spheres of energy at Thunderdog and the boxcar full of grain.

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**" Savamon drew her spear. "Ebony Javelin!" she shouted, reflecting the shots back in the gorillouts' faces. "Boy, I wish that Ikudramon were here!"

"Now's not the time for wishful thinking," June answered. "We need to destroy those things, and we need to get this boxcar out of here when we _do_ defeat them! If they know where we are, and destroy the grain in that boxcar---"

"I hear you," Savamon yelled. "Cetacean cage!" she hurled a row of whale ribs at the gorillouts, but it did little damage. "Boy, this isn't going great!"

"Help is on the way!" Brock answered. "Steelix, I choose you! Gary, care for a piece of the action?"

"I'm all over it! Gyarados! Arcanine! Go!"

"♪♫Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!"

"That's right!" Gary shouted to his cheerleaders. "Gyarados, Hyper beam! Arcanine, take down!"

"Steelix, iron tail!" The monsters did their best to slice through the gorillouts, and they were doing well until the last five gorillouts decided to…

"**Praze-tor-ortei! Noh kreshnaiona djom…Praze-tor-arliitu!**"

"Giantor!" Savamon shouted. "Okay, this is _ not_ good! That guy is as powerful as a mega!"

"We'll see about that!" Thunderdog shouted. "Jacob's Ladder!"

"Cetacean cage!"

"Steelix, rock throw!"

"Arcanine, Fire blast! Gyarados, hyper beam!"

The five creatures' combined attacks struck the giantor in the chest…and did just about nothing.

The giantor answered: "Yo YoNon Gazrii!" He fired a wave of energy at the five, and all five were knocked back and disabled.

"Okay, _not_ _good_!" June thought aloud.

"Rika, I'm the only one left that has a chance! You have to matrix-digivolve me!"

"No, _wait!_" Rika answered. She drew out the gold card that she'd found. "If that letter W stands for what I think it stands for…**Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Renamon, warp-digivolve to…Sablemon!**" Sablemon looked like Renamon, but she had blue armor covering her. What was the most interesting were the two shields on her arms.

"Yo YoNon Gazrii!" the giantor shouted.

Sablemon combined her shields into one and blocked the attack from herself. "You'll pay for that!" She separated her shields and aimed the bottoms of the shields at the giantor. "Laser discus!" She fired a pair of flat, light blue laser bolts at the giantor, and the giantor looked like it was affected. Sablemon leapt up and shouted, "**Sablemon, mode change to…surf mode!**" Sablemon's two shields combined and became a surfboard, and she flew up on it towards the giantor's head. She jumped off the board, grabbed the board, and smacked the giantor's neck with it. The giantor's head fell to the ground.

"That's great, but what about moving the boxcar?" June asked.

"Leave that to me!" Sablemon answered. She flew down on her hover board and picked up the boxcar by the tethers. "Everyone, grab ahold!"

"Good to know that _someone_ can carry this much," Brock said as he called back Steelix.

"Hold it," June yelled. "We need to wake up Pixie and tell Big Blue to carry her along, since we're leaving. And shouldn't someone stay behind and let the others know that we've left? If they come back and find out that we aren't here---"

"I'll do that," Brock answered. "I still have a few pokémon ready to fight."

"But I have more pokémon than you do!" Gary pointed out.

"That's true, but you'd have more people to defend with your cheerleaders."

"Oh…well then, c'mon girls." Gary muttered to himself, "Now is really the kind of time when I wish I still had my car!"

"♪♫Gary, Gary, he's the best! Unquestionably---"

"Oh, shut up!" June, Tibemon, Rika, Sablemon, and Tiger spat.

******

"Pikachu?!" Misty asked, picking him up off the floor. "You're…you're back!" She shouted, giving him a hug.

"Pi KA!"

"But…where's Ash?"

"Pi ka chu…"

Misty let out a sob. "Oh, Ash! Of all the times you had to leave, you had to pick the same time when that one guy chose to attack!"

"Chu, _Chu_!" Pikachu insisted.

"How can you say that?" Misty asked. "You know the chances of him coming back!"

"Pika, pika PI chu pika piiiiiiiiii."

"…Okay, I'll give you that much; he is with Imperialdramon. But still…!"

"Ka chu. Pika _pi_ pika chu pika chuu!"

"Oh, don't give me false hope, Pikachu! Let's face it; Ash is gone!"

Pikachu gave her a short jolt of electricity. "_KA!_"

Misty was stunned. "...I'm sorry, Pikachu…I know Ash wouldn't want me to give up hope, but what if he _is_ dead? Hoping he'll be back would leave me wondering where he is for the rest of my life! I don't want to---"

Tracy cut in. "Misty, are you okay?"

"No! Ash is _gone_!"

"Your boyfriend?"

Misty slapped him. Once she realized one second later what she'd done, she gasped. "I'm…I'm sorry, Tracy."

Tracy rubbed his slapped cheek. "What was that for?"

"I…I'm just upset that Ash is gone."

"What makes you think he's gone for good? For all we know, he's already back in Japan!"

"For all we know, he might be dead!"

"Misty…thinking that does us no good."

"The alternative is to hope he comes back, and I don't want to be hoping that he'll come back for the rest of my life!"

"No, that's not the alternative. The alternative is to _not_ think about Ash and think about your own survival! …Not to mention the survival of the rest of these people: look at them! Forty is all we got back; they hardly have a hope, and there are seven who are beginning to starve! There has to be something we can do, and we won't be able to do it moping around, waiting for the others to get back!"

Misty sighed.

"Misty…" Tracy sat down next to her. "I'm here for you, even if Ash isn't. And he _might_ come back. Maybe not. But it's not good for us to worry about him more than we worry about those seven people. Come on. We need to get working. The sooner, the better."

Misty leaned on Tracy's shoulder. "What do we do?"

"Get Starmie ready. We're going to have him catch us some fish."


	9. Chapter 8: Under and Out

Chapter 8: Under and Out

"Y-y-y-y-you know, I wish that th-th-th-there was s-s-s-some way to k-k-keep warm up he-e-e-ere!" Ash sid through chattering teeth.

"Y-y-you said it!" Davis answered.

"Oh, my heroes!" Tina muttered. (She wasn't cold at all.) "Would you say it's cold enough to keep this food good?"

"Tina, th-there's snow on the ground!" Davis shot back.

"…Okay, that'll be cold enough. Let's get going back, already. Ikudramon, you can carry all of us back?"

"That I can. All you have to do is climb on---"

"Howling laser!" Impostrogarurumon's attack struck Ikudramon, and she regressed back to Youngdramon.

"Hey, where are your manners?!" Youngdramon spat, rubbing her back.

"Not _you_ again!" Stingmon complained as The Unnamed Figure made his presence known.

"Yes, me again!" he shot back. "…And _I_ thought we had done away with _you_! Oh, well…I'll fix this problem! It's time you met another of my new friends. Maggotmon?" Maggotmon was an exact color inverse of Wormmon: Wormmon was green and black, while Maggotmon was red and white. "And now," The Unnamed Figure continued, "**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**" Pestilimon looked like a giant centipede with long, pincer-like legs.

"Time to finish the rest of you off! **Digi-modify! DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Pestilimon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Eindramon!**" Eindramon looked like Paildramon, but with his colors completely different. There was yellow where there had been blue on Paildramon, and red where there had been green. Like Maggotmon was to Wormmon, he was like a color inverse of Paildramon.

"You _do_ realize that two can play at that game, right?" Exveemon asked.

"Let's do it!" Ken shouted. He and Davis clapped their digivices together.

"**Exveemon!**"

"**Stingmon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Paildramon!**"

"We're not done yet!" The Unnamed Figure shouted.

"**Eindramon, mode-change to…stealth mode!**" Eindramon became invisible, making the battle very interesting.

"I can do that, too!" Paildramon shouted back. "**Paildramon, mode-change to…stealth mode!**"

"This is the weirdest battle I've ever seen! …Or, more to the point, _not_ seen!" Hare thought aloud. All they could see were random shots flying this way and that: both digimon were shooting blind.

"This is bad," Ash said. "This reminds me of that battle with Morty…hey, wait a minute! Noctowl! I choose you!" Noctowl jumped out of Ash's pokéball. "Noctowl, there are two big flying digimon in a fight, but we can't see where either one is. Fill this whole place with Confusion so that we can see them!" Noctowl spread a light blue glow around, and they could tell from the shadows where Paildramon and Eindramon were…although it was impossible to tell which was which: the attack showed shadows, not color, and color was about the only thing that could distinguish the two ultimates. They could only tell which was which when one of the two digimon fired, because Eindramon's shots were rusty-orange while Paildramon's were blue. There wasn't very much at all that the people on the ground could do except watch, and they could barely do that. It was the weirdest fight ever, where brains mattered more than brawn.

Finally, there was the indentation of Paildramon's (or Eindramon's) body in the snow. Which one had the upper hand, nobody knew.

"Fine then!" The Unnamed Figure shouted. "**Digi-modify!**** Strength, activate!**"

The figure on the ground rolled out from under the figure on top, and an invisible spike stabbed the ground where he (or it?) had been a moment before.

"Desperado Blaster!" A cloud of snow flew up into the air as one of the two figures smacked the ground. In a flash of light, two digimon appeared: Ewemon and Maggotmon.

"Now! We need to destroy those two things fast, or he'll get a chance to use them again!" Davis shouted to Paildramon.

"Not so fast! **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Darkpatamon, digivolve to…Avatarmon!**"

"**Digi-modify!**** Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Avatarmon, digivolve to…Venomavatarmon!**" Venomavatarmon looked like Magnaangemon, but it had longer arms and wings, and the undersides of its wings were covered with little circles of metal. It spread its wings and shouted, "Pyrus Rings!" and each circle glowed and fired a blue ring of flame out blindly as it ran towards the two fallen rookie digi-clones and picked them up. It ran back to The Unnamed Figure, picked him up, and flew away with him.

"So much for taking them out," Paildramon lamented.

"Let's just get back to the others. I don't think he'll be attacking again," Davis yelled.

******

"Interesting information, agent."

"It's not a good thing at all that they're back. Let me tell you: they're getting smarter every day."

"Hmm…you have had the most experience with them. What's your recommendation?"

"You need to up the capacity of my D-Gauntlet. I've only been able to digivolve two or three of my digimon at a time. We need to take that number up!"

"As of now, our scientists deem that impossible. You would need a digivice 0.88 cubic meters in volume to achieve six simultaneous digivolutions, with the kind of capacity you're suggesting."

The Unnamed Figure growled. "There _has_ to be some way!"

"There is another option our scientists have found: we have more data from the obtained artifact that should prove…_useful._"

"I see…"

"There are two parts to this data. One part will only take a few days to implement. The other will more time. But we would need your D-Gauntlet to enact part one."

"So I'd get a vacation?"

"No. You would use our spare D-Gauntlet. It has no connection to our digi-clones, but it does have the ability to control ator for you."

"Hmm. There's one other idea I have: they never saw my face, thanks to that big cloak you gave me. Is there any chance that you'd be able to…use me as a spy, or a mole?"

"That is a question I will consider further."

******

Starmie jumped out of the water with a net full of fish dragging behind it. It has a bright, contented shine to it, and it let out a loud noise to let Misty know it was back.

Cody walked up to them. "That _looks_ like a pretty good catch, but it's not much to go around for forty people. I think you'd better go back for another trip."

Starmie let out a surprised noise, and then collapsed, and its ruby began to blink. Misty called it back into its pokéball. "I'm afraid Starmie is a little too tired to go back for another trip."

Cody sighed. "The digimon take priority. Next come the sick people, and then the children."

"Can't one of us go up to the surface and look for some food in one of the stores, or something?"

"You probably won't find anything fresh."

"Uh…_me_?"

"Didn't you just volunteer?"

"Well, I didn't exactly mean _me_ going up there, but…" Misty sighed. "It's one way to get out of this place."

"You shouldn't go alone," T.K. cautioned.

"I'll go with her," Tracy offered.

Misty looked at him with a confused expression.

"Okay. See you later."

"We hope," Misty answered. She and Tracy climbed the long ladder up the manhole, and Misty stopped when she reached the top. "Hold on a second, hand me Merrill's pokéball."

"What for?"

"I want to have him listen for menace machines."

"Okay."

Merrill listened closely, and he heard something. He motioned for them to go back down.

"Well, that was quick," Cody thought aloud.

"There were menace machines up at the top. We're going to try again in a few minutes."

"Good choice. All we need is to be discovered, right now."

******

"Why are you stopping, Sablemon?" Rika asked.

"Just taking a short break."

"Should I use my stamina card?"

"No, don't give me any more modifications. The less energy I use, the shorter it will take for me to recover afterwards." Sablemon stood there for a while, and then she picked up the boxcar again and began carrying it further. She stopped in front of an alleyway and slid the boxcar into the alley. "Everybody off!" she said.

"This is where we're stopping?"

"It's as good a place as any," Sablemon answered as she regressed back to Renamon. Panting, she added, "Now, let's get inside before we're seen."

******

"Hear anything, Merrill?"

Merrill waved his hand for silence. He paused, and gave Tracy and Misty a thumb's up.

"Great. Then you can stop weighing down my shoulder," Misty thought aloud. Tracy called Merrill back. Misty pressed against the manhole cover, but it wouldn't budge. "Huh? Ungh!" Misty grunted as she tried to get the cover loose.

"What's the matter?"

"The cover…won't…come up at all!"

"Let me try."

"For us to change places on this ladder, we'd both have to go all the way back down, switch at the bottom, and then climb all the way back up."

"If we can't get the cover open, then we'll just be going back down to the bottom, anyway," Tracy pointed out.

Tracy and Misty switched places, but Tracy couldn't get the cover to budge, either. Wiping sweat off his forehead, he said, "It must really be jammed shut. I have an idea, though."

"What's that?"

"We'll need to climb down a little ways for it to work. Scizor, I choose you!" Scizor clamped onto the ladder with his lobster-like claws. "Scizor, use your Metal claw to cut through the manhole cover!" An orange glow shone down from the manhole as Scizor began cutting through. But something strange happened as they cut through… 


	10. Chapter 9: It's THEM

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 9: It's THEM!

Brock waved to Paildramon as he came in. "Hey!"

"Whasssaaap?"

"We moved!" Brock yelled. "There was a fight here earlier today, and we moved the boxcar!"

"Where did they go?"

Brock climbed onto Paildramon's back. "I think they went that way," Brock answered. It wasn't long before they had reunited with the others.

"Where were you while we were fighting those gorillouts?" June angrily asked Davis, hands on hips.

"We were stashing the meat and the fruit, like you wanted us to!" Davis answered.

"That wasn't _my_ idea! I am very disappointed in you, little brother!" June grumbled. She pressed a button on her mini-umbrella, and the umbrella shot forward on its shaft and hit Davis in the nose. Then it opened and knocked Davis to the floor.

"Hey!" Davis yelled. "This was _Tina's_ idea, not mine!"

"Oh." June walked up to Tina and gave her a nuggie. "Smart thinking, putting those boxcars where they'll be naturally refrigerated!"

"Thanks. It was one of my better ideas."

"June, will you shut that umbrella already??! You know that opening an umbrella indoors is bad luck!"

Tina rolled her eyes. "Davis, there's no such thing as luck!"

"Then why are you leaving the room?"

"Because there's a different room calling my name!"

June hoisted the umbrella onto her shoulder and began walking like a supermodel on a stage ramp, as if to say, "Look at me, Davis! I'm tempting fate!"

Davis ran out of the room screaming.

June shook her head and couldn't help but smile in amusement. Little did she know that there had been a cockroach, Mrs. Pippycrawler, gnawing away at the wax in the emergency sprinkler above her. There was only a little bit of wax left, and June was just beneath the sprinkler. A single drop fell on her umbrella.

Hearing the noise, she asked, "What on earth was that?" She shut her umbrella with another push of the button, and looked up.

Mrs. Pippycrawler saw that June was looking, and she kicked the last little bit of wax out from the sprinkler. A scream rose up from that building, and Mrs. Pippycrawler whistled with delight as she rode around and around on the rotating sprinkler…

******

"Huh?" Misty felt something pattering against her rain jacket. She looked, and there were little grains of something falling from under the manhole. "What is that? Scizor, stop cutting a minute." She caught a small handful of the stuff and looked. "Tracy, what do you think this stuff is?"

Tracy looked at it and tasted some. "Tastes like…wheat!"

"Wheat?! …But…how on earth would _wheat _get up there?"

"I don't know. Scizor, keep cutting, but cut carefully. Maybe there's a bag of grain at the top that somebody somehow left."

"Or maybe Cody's prayers are answered!" Misty thought aloud. "You know how much he's been praying?"

"No. I haven't been paying that much attention to things around here; I'm more concerned with those catalogues that Cleaver and I made. If only we could get them back, I could---"

Tracy was interrupted as he heard a low cracking noise. "Uh-oh," he thought aloud. "I think we'd better---"

WHOOSH! An avalanche of wheat fell from the hole, and Scizor, Misty, and Tracy held on for a minute before they were sucked into the stream of falling grain. They landed more softly than one would think at the bottom, as a pile of grain broke their falls.

Seeing the pile of wheat fall out of the shaft, Cody's mouth dropped open. "What…is this?"

Misty's head stuck up from the pile. "Wheat," she groaned.

"Wheat…???!!!" Cody's mouth dropped open, and then he fell on his knees. "Thank you God!"(1) he shouted, motioning for T.K. to get a fire started to start cooking. "But…_how_ exactly did this happen?"

"Beats me," Tracy answered. "…In a literal sense!" he added, shaking wheat out of his clothes.

"Let us have a feast!" Cody shouted.

******

"Say, Ken, did you hear something?"

"No…why?"

"I thought I heard something out there."

"In the boxcar? You mean somebody might've stolen our food?" Ken gave the idea some thought. "We have a lot in there. If it's only one person who's stealing from us, they can't steal all that much. Besides, it's for people who need it that we brought the grain."

"…If you say so." Davis yawned. "I don't know about you, but I could use some serious shuteye." He balled his jacket into a pillow, lay down on it, and slept.

"Dad!" Tina shouted.

"Honey, you'll wake up Davis!"

"And that's a bad thing?" Tina asked. The look on her dad's face told her it was. "Sorry… But Youngdramon is recovering from that hit she took, and Veemon and Wormmon could use some grub, too…should I go get some grain so we can make bread?"

"Go for it."

Tina passed June on the way out. "Hey, thanks for making sure the water's still running!" Tina jested as she passed the still dripping wet June. June flicked water in Tina's face.

Tina climbed up to the top of the boxcar and opened the top…and there was less than half of the grain that had been in there before. Tina was shocked. Then, it occurred to her: her dad was a detective, and she had his genes in her blood. "Oh, Joey?" she asked. Joey's head popped out of Tina's pocket, and he let out an inquisitive squeak. "How're you doing?"

"Joey okay. Joey should ask Tina that."

"How come?"

"Tina fight with Rika last night. Tina win?"

"God win fight for Tina."

"'God' no is word Joey know."

"Huh…! I don't know how to say it… God made everything."

"He make everything…? He make cities, houses, stuff?"

"He make stuff that people use to make stuff."

"Oh! Tina means _ Hukegriitato_."

"What's…_Hukegriitato_?"

"There three of them. They make everything. No is He. Is They." (2)

"…I see. But…!!!"

"What is Tina surprised about?"

"If you come from outer space, and you believe in God too, then…He must exist!"

"Duh!" Joey spat. (His race took it as fact that there was a Trinity God, and they always had.)

"…But do you have your…uh, _non otawawo_?"

"Joey have. Why?"

"Might need shoot." Tina jumped into the boxcar and waded into the middle, where there was a hole. "Oh, this again! I've seen the ol' pull-the-plug-on-the-bathtub trick before!" She climbed down the manhole, and she began hearing noises of…what sounded like a party. _Partying off our food?!_ Tina thought to herself. _Of all the nerve!_

She reached the bottom, turned around, and saw forty of the refugees that they had kept in the nuke plant before. …And one of them was her friend, Natasha! Tina whispered to Joey, "Go back to bed. No need shoot, after all."

"Okay." Joey curled up in her pocket again.

Tina quietly crept up behind Natasha and covered her eyes. "Guess who?"

Natasha's jaw dropped open. "Tina?!"

"I'm _BACK!!!_" she shouted. The two were hugging the second after, and Joey would've been squished if his muscle structure hadn't been so dense.

"Where _were_ you?"

"We just did the trade as planned, and then we got back, and the nuke plant was gone! So we found another one, and it was full of radiation, so we went to what we thought was just inside the 500 meter radius, but it must not have been because we got attacked by more menace machines, and then we moved here."

"Ooo! It's so great to see you back and alive!"

"You too! I was scared out of my wits when I saw you all gone. I was afraid you were dead!"

"We've had some close calls, but I'm still kickin'!" Natasha answered with a wink.

Tina giggled. "Wait until I tell the others! I'll be topside; don't go anywhere!" she said, climbing back up the top. As she entered the building, she shouted, "Doofus! Doofus! Great news! I _found_ them!"

"Who?" Davis groaned, just waking up.

"Them!"

"Who, them?" Davis asked.

"Them, them! _ THEM!_"

"Is any one of those 'them'-s the same 'them' that kills your dad all the time?"

"…Huh?"

"Never mind. (3) Could you give me the names of some of the people in the 'them' you found?"

"Oh, Cody, Natasha, T.K., Misty---"

"_Them_?!" Davis asked.

"THEM!"

They raced to tell Ken and the others.

"What's the excitement?" Ken asked.

"Great news! It's _them_!" Davis answered.

"Who?"

"Them! …Cody, T.K., and some others are…where are they, Tina?"

"Underground. They dug a hole beneath our boxcar and stole the grain, but that's okay because they had all these refugees down there who were starving, and---"

"Them?" Ken asked.

"Let's not start that up again!" Davis spat.

(1) "…And that, Prof. Plantinga, coupled with my assertion of the nature of humor, is my proof that there is a personal God: from this lemma, we conclude that God has a sense of humor, and that, therefore, He must be person, not force. You may critique this assertion at your leisure."

(2) This was not inserted to offend the Unitarians. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't ask…

This is one of the harder-to-understand parts of most Christian doctrines. A lot of types of church believe that God is three in one. I might have missed the mark with this understanding, but the way I understand it is this: three equal, personal Entities share their Godhood. Since there is a single Godhood, we say there is one God. It's kind of like the Hindus with Brahman and the three gods who share in that…a spooky coincidence, huh?

(3) This joke is a bit obscure. It's about South Park.


	11. Chapter 10: Tina?

Chapter 10: Tina?

"T.J.!" Davis yelled.

T.K. didn't react at all: the noise in the room was enough to mask that it was Davis's voice, and "T.J." wasn't his name.

"T.E.??"

No answer.

"T.**_Q_**._???_"

No answer.

Tina nudged Davis. "Leave this to a pro, Doofus. **_T.K.!_**"

T.K. turned, and his jaw dropped open: there they were! The people who had been gone for weeks were finally back! "Davis!? You're…you're back?!"

"Yeah, and the fact that we're back also has something to do with the fact that it was raining wheat out of that manhole a few minutes ago."

"How _exactly_ did you pull that off?"

"We were on a trading mission to the middle of the U.S.A., and we managed to get a good supply of wheat for the fish we had to trade. We put all the wheat in a railway boxcar, and we put that boxcar right above your manhole. So, when someone tried to weld their way through, they got pounded with grain."

"Wow! Talk about a coincidence! Who would've thought!?"

"Someone obviously did," Tina cut in. "Excuse me; I have some catching up to do."

"I think that can be said for all of us," T.K. said.

Ken asked, "T.K., what _exactly_ happened while we were away? We found the nuke plant in ruins, and another one was leaking radiation. Why is that?"

"The leaking radiation one, I can't explain. My guess is that it was something that happened when time got torn apart. But after you left, that cloaked guy attacked with all kinds of menace machines, and he had an evil clone of Shakkoumon doing all his work for him. We did our best to resist, but we ended up having to evacuate. Most of the refugees got out, but we got separated in the attack."

"Why didn't the reactor melt down?"

"We took all the fuel rods out when we knew that we weren't going to be able to stay in there. We didn't want to kill anybody else."

"Isn't there _any_ place that's safe for us to stay?" Davis wondered.

"We haven't gotten any attacks here, so far."

"How long will that last?"

"We don't know; that's why it's a really good thing that you showed up. Ironarchaeopteryxmon is a mega digimon, but, when it comes to moving people, he's not much help. Imperialdramon has that force field on his back; he'd be able to move people around." T.K. chuckled. "He'd be able to move them to the moon if we had to."

Tina didn't have such a happy look on her face when she heard the news: Ingrid wasn't in this bunch. "So…where _ would_ she be?"

"I don't know; the last time I saw her…she was with your mother."

"Oh…well, then she's in good hands."

******

"No! Bad!"

"Tina?" Ingrid begged, referring to Tina's merciful nature.

"_Bad!_"

Ingrid sighed. She wasn't getting out of this one. She'd eaten off from someone else's plate, and food was scarce at the time. So she had earned disapproval. Disapproval was always enough to make Ingrid want to stop doing whatever she'd been doing that was bad. But disapproval wasn't enough of a punishment to Yolei; there had to be corporal punishment. (It was all that had ever worked on Tina.) So Yolei brought out her trusty riding crop and gave Ingrid a few smacks. Ingrid screamed her lungs out, which was the worst thing she could have done: before long, there was a group of luftwaffles attacking their building.

"Uh-oh!" Kari thought aloud. "Maybe spanking her wasn't such a great idea, Yolei."

"I'm beginning to see that," Yolei answered. She pulled out the digi-egg of sincerity. "**Digi-armor, energize!**"

"**Hawkmon, armor digivolve to…Shurimon, the samurai of sincerity!**" Shurimon began reflecting laser blasts away from them away. "Double star!" she shouted, firing a few blades at the luftwaffles. Unfortunately, the luftwaffles were agile, and she only took one out after shooting out nine blades. "This isn't going well, Yolei," Shurimon shouted. "We're going to need some help to take these out!"

"Gatomon is still too weak to fight, and Moochi's beam attacks won't help us against those things!" Kari answered.

"Then there's only one thing left," Yolei thought aloud. She pulled a small brown object out of her pocket and threw it at Shurimon.

"**Shurimon, radio-digivolve to…Pepomon, the noble samurai of sincerity!**" Pepomon looked like Shurimon, but she was more obese, with a pumpkin for a belly, and her vines were longer, with bigger blades at the ends of them. Pepomon flew out of the building and slashed at the luftwaffles. They were down before long.

"What was that?" Kari asked.

"It was a leaf stone. One of the pokémon trainers gave it to me."

"So…you just touch it to an armor digimon, and she digivolves?"

"Or he. It worked on Flamedramon, Submarimon, and Raidramon, too."

"Seems like we have a million ways to get to ultimate," Kari mused. "I just wish we had our crests back. But we need to move on, and fast, or else we'll get attacked again."

There was the telltale scream of a humbug just as Kari said this. As Pepomon demolished it, Yolei yelled, "You had to say that, didn't you?"

"Now I wish we had a fast way out of here!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Suezo asked.

"Oh, that's right. Pepomon, c'mon back!"

Pepomon regressed back to Hawkmon, and they beamed out of the room. But there was one thing they forgot…

"Tina?" Ingrid asked when she realized she was alone. There was no answer. "Tina???" 


	12. Chapter 11: Mom and Dad

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 11: Mom and Dad

Rika was still a very unsure, broken child. She had stared into the face of death, and it still haunted her. She was unsure about herself and about other people, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do. She sat on top of Tina's bedroll next to Renamon, and Renamon was worried about Rika…she wasn't usually this sad. Usually she was angry, instead.

"Rika…"

Rika looked up at Renamon.

"Rika…you haven't been yourself, lately. Why is that…?"

Rika sighed, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Renamon came in closer to Rika and licked the tear away. "Rika, you can tell me. I'm your digimon partner; if we're going to be fighting together, then we should at least be friends."

Rika inhaled in the staggered way that a person inhales when she's crying, so Renamon knew something was wrong…something that had cut Rika in two.

Renamon put her paws around Rika. "Rika…_please_ tell me what it is." Rika's sobs only got more pained. So Renamon pulled her in closer in a hug. "Rika…_please_ tell me why you're crying."

"Because your spiked bracelets are poking me!"

Renamon quickly let go. "But there's something else that's bothering you. What is it? Ever since last night, you've been shy and you won't open your mouth. What is it?"

Rika sobbed again. "It's because I almost killed myself last night."

"What happened?"

"I went to the janitor's closet…I got some bleach and ammonia to mix together so that it would make a poison fume and kill me…and I went into the bathroom to mix them…and I tried to mix them…" Rika broke into sobs. Renamon began to get the idea of what was going on. She nuzzled Rika's cheek and licked the tears off again.

"Rika…if it's hurting you this much to remember it, then you should try to forget about it."

Rika shook her head. "…No, it's trying to forget stuff that happens to me that put me in that bathroom. I need to come to terms with my past, even if it was just last night, or I'll never recover from this. I need to keep going! …Right when I was about to mix the chemicals, Tina came in. She knocked the bottle out of my hands and wrestled me to the ground. She told me…" Rika stopped for a minute. "She---told---me that I was wrong…that her God kept me from killing myself by making her walk in at that exact moment…and that it was me holding all of this in that made me blow up at people."

"She was right. About all of it," Renamon answered. "And she was right about you never opening up that made you explode. And thanks…for finally telling me something." Renamon wanted to hug her, but she knew it was a bad idea. Renamon secretly hoped that this was going to be the start of a _real_ friendship…not like the love-and-hate relationship that they had had before.

"No problem, Renamon…" Rika rested her head on the bedroll. "So…what's there to do now?"

"Rest…and hope there isn't another---"

At that moment, in came Tina, singing and dancing like a nymph from Greek mythology. (She was not singing and dancing like the kinds of nymph that really exist and tend metamorphose into adult insects. That would've been ugly.) She was singing in such a way that the words were unintelligible.

"What has you so happy?" Renamon asked.

"We found them!"

"Who?"

"Them!"

"Who them? …_Them??_"

"No, the other them."

"…Could you be more specific?"

"T.K., Cody, Misty, Tracy, Ghenki---"

"So you've found everyone?"

Tina sadly shook her head. "No, my mom is still missing. They got separated when they attacked the nuke plant."

"Oh…they were separated?"

"No, the first them got separated. We found the other them."

"I'm talking about they, not them."

"Oh, I didn't know." (1)

"Knock it off," Rika muttered, holding her ears shut.

Tina looked at the ground. "Sorry."

"_Thanks._ So…what all happened while we were away?"

"Nothing you don't already know." Tina sat down. "How're you keeping busy?"

"I'm not."

"Neither am I. And…" Tina sighed. "Man, I wish that we still had those TV sets and game systems. And Ingrid."

"Who's this Ingrid girl you keep talking about?"

"She's kind of my adopted daughter. The pokémon trainers and Ghenki found her in an old building and brought her to the nuke plant…and she was different from the rest; it was like her mind was totally reset. She didn't remember how to talk, and I'd think that she doesn't know who she is, either."

Rika looked at the ground. "Why is there nothing but bad stuff going on?"

"That's just the way life is. Bad stuff happens. You got three choices: complain about it, adapt, or do what Youngdramon and I are about to do."

"What's that?"

"Not be awake to experience it. Good night!" Tina flopped down on her pillow, not even bothering to get under the covers.

"Does that really work?" Rika asked.

"Not if people keep talking to you."

"But…you said not talking was a bad thing."

"I guess I did, didn't I?" Tina asked. "But what's there to talk about?"

"…You remember how you told me that your God stopped me from killing myself?"

"Yeah."

"…_Why_ would He do that?"

"So Sablemon would be able to fight that giantor."

"He knows the future?"

"Yeah. And He has plans for you in it."

"Plans?? For…_me_? I don't even know anything about Him! Why is He interested in what happens to _me_?!"

"You're His daughter. Of course He cares!"

"…Could you run that by me again?"

"You're His daughter. That's why He cares what happens to you."

"How can I be His daughter?"

"He made you. He made the universe, ergo, He made you."

"But…but…a God calling _me_ His daughter?" The words "His daughter"---whether the letter H was capitalized or not---were a shock to Rika. Her father had left the house when she was six…and that taught her not to trust anyone or open up her feelings to anyone, because she had feelings for her father, and he didn't respond well to her feelings. And now…a God wanted her for a daughter so much that He'd stop her from killing herself?

"Yeah. What's so special about that?" (Tina had heard "God is your Father" a million times.)

"But…" Rika gave up in trying to understand the idea. "I don't believe it!"

"Your loss."

******

"Moochi cannon!" Moochi and Guilmon were just about the only fighting fit creature with them, and The Unnamed Figure was pestering them again. 

"Are you just going to keep attacking us until we're _both_ worn out?" Yolei spat.

"What's it to you if I am?" he shot back. He thought to himself, _Man! If I win this fight, I'll have to spare her life and make her one of the "personal maids" that the sub-major mentioned!_

"Rrrrgh! I wish my husband was here!" she thought to herself. "Suezo, any chance we're teleporting out of this one?"

"I doubt it," Suezo tiredly groaned.

"Then it's up to me, chi!" Moochi shouted. "Let's do our thing!"

Yolei threw Moochi the digi-egg of love. "**Moochi, module-evolve to…Turtledove!**" Turtledove flew up to combat the spiderstrikes that The Unnamed Figure was summoning. "Tempest Cannon!" Moochi shouted, firing a few red beams of light at them.

Takato drew his D-Arc. "**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"You're in for a big surprise…_literally_," The Unnamed Figure sneered. "Time for you to see what these things are _ really_ capable of!"

Sixty spiderstrikes flew together in a spheroid formation… "**Ferra-tor-cknii, noh kreshnaiona djom… Ferra‑tor‑khminn!**" The sixty spiderstrikes became on huge menace machine: spidersphere.

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Spidersphere (Arubōru)  
Real Name: Ferra-tor-khmin  
Caste: To'vio  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
Tuli Dar Kamna  
Comments:  
The Spidersphere is a menace machine made up of sixty spiderstrikes. It has no propulsion system and its main purpose is to split up and deploy tor to a specific area. Before it splits up, it can fire Dar kamna beams from its constituent spiderstrikes' eyes, and the concentrated firepower is a match for a mega digimon's. It is also used in space combat situations, although, since it is immobile, it serves as more of a space artillery unit than anything else. 

Beads of sweat trickling down his neck, Turtledove said, "I think we have a problem…"

"Tuli Dar Kamna!" the spidersphere shouted. A barrage of yellow beams of light flew out at Turtledove, bolts that he really wished he had the ability to reflect back.

"Suezo! I need help up here!" All Turtledove could do was dodge. He fired a shot or two back at the spidersphere, but it didn't seem to help.

"What can _I _do in this condition?" Suezo asked panting.

"Then _somebody_ give me a hand before this ends up finishing me off!"

"Digivolve again, Growlmon!" Takato shouted, swiping another blue card through his D-Arc.

"**Growlmon, digivolve to…Wargrowlmon!**"

"I've an idea," Gatomon said.

Kari insisted, "You're still too weak to golden armor digivolve, and you and Hawkmon can't DNA digivolve, either!"

"I'm not planning on digivolving," Gatomon answered. She hopped out of Kari's arms. Her boots glowed a bright purple, and she stomped the ground with one of them. "Step of cat!" she shouted, and a purple streak of lighting flew across the ground at The Unnamed figure. He jumped out of the way of the streak. As he jumped, the spidersphere stopped firing, and Turtledove and Wargrowlmon landed a few more hits on the spidersphere. Several of the spidersphere's beam cannons were disabled. "Personally, I'm sick of you!" Gatomon snarled. "Step of cat!"

The Unnamed Figure had to jump out of the way again. "Likewise, fur ball!" he shot back. He aimed his gauntlet at her, and a white ray shot out at her. She ducked the ray and slashed at the weapon, neatly tearing it off his arm. She pitched it back at Yolei. "See if you can figure out how this thing works! I'm going to watch our little prisoner, here." Yolei began trying to make the spidersphere stop attacking and/or self-destruct, while Gatomon kept an eye on The Unnamed figure with her electric claws ready to shock him. But his cloak left a lot of room for unseen movement, and he managed to pull another weapon out of his pocket without being seen. He shot Gatomon with it and aimed it at Yolei.

"Your party ends here! The Linonian Empire will not lose the battle for earth---in fact, we've already won it! Earth is ours, and---"

He was cut off as a red beam of light sliced through his weapon. Turtledove was back, and Yolei had succeeded in shutting down the spidersphere.

Yolei glowered at him. "Now, you're going to give us some answers, or else I'll shoot you with your own weapon!"

The Unnamed Figure turned around and ran the other way. Yolei didn't shoot.

"Was that a bluff?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, that was a bluff."

"So now what?" Turtledove asked as he and Wargrowlmon landed and regressed back to Moochi and Guilmon.

"We need to find some safe place to hide. Especially---" Yolei was cut off as it started pouring rain. "…If the weather is about to turn rotten."

******

"Tina?" Ingrid asked again, hoping for some answer. There was no answer. Ingrid had been wandering the street for hours, and she suddenly had the urge to find some place to hide. She crept into an alleyway and curled up in a corner. She pulled a cardboard box over herself to try and stay hidden, because she was so terrified of being alone.

She heard a noise. "Tina?" she asked, hoping it was her adopted mother. A growl answered her, and she saw through a hole in the box that it was a canis-tor, looking for edible prey. She didn't make a noise and pulled her blanket over her head. The canis‑tor looked around, sniffed the air, and didn't find her. It left to search out other prey, but Ingrid didn't come out from under her blanket under she heard a rapping noise on the roof of her box.

"Tina?" she asked again, hoping for the best. It was followed by another thud. And another. "Is Tina?" Ingrid demanded. "Talk!" There were only more thuds, and more and more, until Ingrid couldn't bear wondering what the noises were any longer. She lifted up the box, and she saw that it was raining outside. She didn't want to leave the box, but the repeated drumming noise scared her. She curled up in a ball with her blanket over her head. "Tinaaaaaaaa…" she moaned.

(1) I wonder how long I can keep this stupid joke going…


	13. Chapter 12: Old Dogs

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 12: Old Dogs

Yolei and Kari ushered the children into the shelter of the cemetery mausoleum. The walls of the mausoleum were thick and complex, so the underbirds probably wouldn't be able to find them there. Most of them were more than a little wet when they made it into the building.

Yolei sighed. "So…what's the situation?" she asked.

"Not so great," Kari answered, fishing around in her backpack. "This is the last of the food we have, and it isn't much."

"Give it to the digimon and Monsters," Yolei said. "The sooner they recover, the better."

"But what about when we get hungry again, chi?" Moochi asked.

"We'll have to try a grocery store…or some other place that might have food."

"Any chance we can escape to the country?" Kari wondered aloud. "I mean, Swampangemon could carry us out of the city, and we might be able to get some rice over there."

"It's our only shot," Yolei thought. "So I guess Hawkmon and Gatomon take priority. How soon is it before you and Hawkmon can DNA digivolve?" Yolei asked Gatomon.

"I don't know," she answered. "I was tired enough before he shot me with that thing."

"…I have one idea," Yolei said. "Since the monsters and digimon are worn out, there's only one way for a person to protect herself out there, and that's with this gauntlet Gatomon stole from him."

"But we don't know how it works!" Kari insisted. "How are you going to be able to use it out there?"

"I'll find out, won't I?" She put the gauntlet on her arm and fished a rain poncho out of her backpack. "You guys sit tight. Don't run if you don't need to, and I'm going to try to get us some more food. I might be a while; there's no telling where there is still food around."

"But what if you don't come back?" Kari asked. "You know how dangerous it is out there---_and _that there are time fields that can make a minute to you seem like an hour to us!"

"What if I don't go?" Yolei shot back. "I sure hope this thing is waterproof," she said, looking at the gauntlet.

"Be careful out there, Yolei," Hawkmon said after her.

"I will. I know what's at stake…" Yolei slipped out the door of the mausoleum and crept away. She kept one hand on the gauntlet as she walked down the rainy street towards where she hoped would be a grocery store. She opened the door of the grocery, and she searched. Everything had either gone bad or was already eaten by someone else. She left the store in disgust. "Not even the canned goods were still there!" she muttered. "Oh, well…next store."

As she continued walking down the road, she saw a spectacular rainbow to her right. She stood awestruck for a moment, until it occurred to her: rainbows require _sun_ and rain, and sun meant that solar-powered luftwaffles would be swarming. She ran into an alleyway and tried to hide in there.

_How to stay unseen,_ Yolei thought to herself. _Oh, God, please don't let it stay sunny out for so long! …I know, I'll use a box, and that'll keep me hidden…not to mention get me out of the rain for a second._ Yolei picked up a cardboard box from off a stack of boxes that were lying in a heap next to her. She curled up beneath one and poked a little eyehole in the side for herself so that she could see if there was still sunlight outside or not. As she did this, she wondered about how sunlight was a thing they dreaded, instead of cherished: sunlight was rare, thanks to what the time anomalies were doing to the climate. But sunlight meant solar-powered menace machines, and, as rare as the sight of the sun was, it wasn't valuable, like most rare things are.

Yolei's train of thought was broken as she heard the noise of something giving way, and the disgruntled whimpers of a seven-year-old child. _Did I just imagine that?_ Yolei wondered. She made another eyehole through the wet cardboard of her own box, and she saw that there was another box next to hers that was…moving. Yolei picked up the bottom edge of her box and lifted it up so that she could look inside the other box. The other box was also bottom-up, but the rain had eroded away at the roof so that it had fallen in on itself. Yolei looked through in through the open roof, and, inside the box, there was Ingrid, who was cowering in one corner of the box, as if the sight of Yolei scared her. Yolei's jaw dropped open as she saw her inside. "How did you get here?"

The child whimpered again, and Yolei knew that this had something to do with how she'd treated her before.

"Hush! Hush! If they hear us, then we're in big trouble---"

"Ti-i-i-i-na-a-a-a-a!" Ingrid sobbed in despair.

Yolei put her hand on Ingrid's mouth. "Listen, I don't hate you. I love you and I care about you, but I'm doing this for your own good."

Ingrid let out another muffled cry.

Yolei sighed and took Ingrid up out of her damaged box, leaving her drenched blanket behind. Hopefully, Ingrid's raincoat would keep her warm enough. Keeping her hand on Ingrid's mouth, she pulled Ingrid's hood up. "Shh. We need to be quiet."

Ingrid started struggling.

"Ingrid, _no_! You can't…!" Yolei sighed. "Listen, I don't hate you. Please don't make a sound when I take away my hand…" Yolei slowly took away her hand from Ingrid's mouth. Ingrid stopped struggling. She looked Yolei over. Yolei didn't seem so terrible now, and she didn't look like she was about to beat her again. So…what was going on?

"Tina?" Ingrid asked, referring to Tina's merciful attitude.

"…Tina," Yolei answered.

Ingrid jumped up and hugged Yolei. Yolei didn't understand why Ingrid responded like this…did Ingrid think she was Tina? …Not unless she had terrible eyesight; there were a few definite differences between herself and her daughter. Yolei didn't want to hurt the child's feelings, nor did she want to lie to the child and make her think she was Tina. So Yolei just sighed and kept a hand on her shoulder.

At that moment, the bottom of Yolei's box broke through, letting a splash of collected rainwater fall on her back. Yolei tucked Ingrid inside her own poncho to keep her warm and dry, and hoped the child wouldn't smother in there.

It wasn't long before the sun stopped shining. Yolei got up out of the box and stretched. "Finally!" she declared.

There was a snarl in front of her: there was the canis-tor, ready to attack and licking its chops for her flesh. Yolei gulped. "Here goes nothing…" She began pressing buttons on the gauntlet, hoping that she'd find something that would work as a weapon. Finally, something odd happened: there was a screen on her gauntlet that had an image of her and Ingrid on it…from the perspective of the canis-tor. Yolei looked up at the canis-tor, and it had frozen in its tracks. Yolei looked back down at the screen and touched a spot on it.

"Darwawo Non!" The canis-tor spat a blob of purple energy at the spot where Yolei had touched the screen. Ingrid let out another whimper, and the noise attracted the attention of a saberstrike. The saberstrike looked into the alleyway, and then began walking towards them with its jaws dripping with saliva. Yolei made the canis-tor shoot the saberstrike, and the saberstrike didn't survive the hit.

Yolei mused, "Behold the dog: a man's best friend, but a _woman's _slave!" She pressed a few more buttons, and the canis-tor shut down. She calmed Ingrid down and took her by the hand. "C'mon. We have a job to do."

Ingrid was unsure, but she hung on to Yolei's hand as they walked away to try and find something to eat.

******

"Let's face it, Tai," Matt said, "We're sunk."

"Matt, you're letting despair get to your head, again! There's no way that I'm giving up that easily. We didn't beat Myotismon and the Dark Masters to let _this_ defeat us!"

"Get _real_, Tai! The Digiworld is gone; Earth is in ruins. What is _left_ for us to save?"

"Our own necks, for one thing!"

"What good is that? What can _we_ do?"

"We saved both worlds _twice_ before; we can do it again!"

"Oh, quit being so optimistic!"

"Matt, you're being pessimistic. What _would_ you have us do, let them get us?"

"…I never really thought about that…"

"There _is _no alternative to fighting back, Matt. There has to be some way---"

The roar of a lift-tor cut Tai off.

"**Agumon, digivolve to…Greymon!**"

"**Gabumon, digivolve to…Garurumon!**"

The two champion digimon shot their fiery attacks at the lift-tor, but to no avail. "Yon Sh'rota!" the lift-tor answered, firing a pair of beams out its underside turret. The one fired at Greymon missed, but the other one hit Garurumon squarely. He regressed back to Gabumon.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Greymon!" Tai shouted. "Let's take care of this thing!"

"Tai, it's a better move to get out of here while we can! You can't just---"

"We'll be target practice for this thing if we're running! We need to destroy it, or we're toast!"

"You saw how our digimon's attacks affected that thing: _not at all_. There's no way you can beat it!"

"Then I'm saving your neck! _You _get out of here while you can! Move it! ...Huh??" Tai looked down at an orange glow on his digivice...

"**Greymon, digivolve to…Metalgreymon!**"

Matt was shocked. "…Okay, maybe you _can_ beat it…"

"Giga Blaster!" Metalgreymon shouted. He fired two spheres of white energy out his chest, and the two shots turned the lift-tor into scrap metal.

"_Now_ we can get out of here by air!" Tai yelled. "Climb on, and let's hit the road!"

"For once, I'm behind you, Tai…and I'm sorry for yelling at you. I just didn't see it coming that you have your crest back."

"I know you were just trying to save _my_ neck. But where do we head _now_?"

"Good question. If we wanted to _risk_ our necks, I'd say we stay here and look for the others. Otherwise, we should avoid the city and head for the country. Knowing you, we're sticking around."

"That we are, Matt! And once Gabumon recovers, we'll have a digimon that can go to mega…there's not that big a chance of us dying!"

"If you say so, Tai…"


	14. Chapter 13: Reunions

Chapter 13: Reunions

Yolei looked into one of the stores. _It's as good a place as any to check for food,_ she thought to herself. Yolei was very disappointed when she found out that this was a clothes store, not a grocery. But she picked out a few blankets and a few bags for carrying the food back in…not to mention a sweatshirt for Ingrid. The two of them walked out, each with an empty backpack and an empty duffel bag. Yolei sincerely hoped that she'd be able to fill those bags. Her own stomach began to complain about food.

Finally, they found a grocery store where there was some untouched food: it had canned goods in the back that had not gone bad yet. She filled up her duffel bag and her backpack with the cans, and she had filled up Ingrid's backpack when she decided she shouldn't weigh down the poor child with more than was necessary. So she didn't fill up her duffel.

She was just walking out of the store when she saw Metalgreymon fly past. Blinking, she asked herself, "Did I just see that?"

Her first impulse was to run after him, but she realized that running after him wouldn't help at all: he was so fast, she'd never catch up. Yolei groaned and beat her head against the wall of the store. Then, something even more interesting happened: she saw Metalgreymon flying back the other way, with the telltale waves of energy from a giantor following him.

"Okay, lemme see if I can remember how this works…" She pressed the same buttons, and the giantor came to a halt. But Metalgreymon kept going. "Oh, great…I need to get his attention, somehow…this is the craziest idea I've had yet…"

That got Metalgreymon's attention, all right: he stared at the giantor doing the Macarena and his mouth slowly dropped open. Yolei screamed, "Tai! Metalgreymon! Over here!"

"…Yolei? Is that you?" Tai asked.

"It's me, all right! It's good to see you!"

"Likewise! …Boy, you're going on a backpacking trip?"

"I'm taking as much as I can back to the others at the mausoleum."

"Mausoleum? You're staying at a cemetery?"

"Any place to get away from these menace machines."

"I see what you mean."

"Listen, I could use a hand taking this food back to the others. And we might need to take all of it."

"There's still some left in the store?"

"Yeah, there is."

"Great! A chance to get out of the rain!" Matt thought aloud.

"Relax, Matt. I still have a few ponchos from the humanitarian gear Tai and Kari got from that refugee camp. Surprising that there are any left, isn't it?"

"A welcome surprise."

They lugged the food back to the mausoleum…but there was nobody inside. Yolei's mouth dropped open, and tears peeked out the bottoms of her eyes. It was _all gone_. The gain of finding Tai and Matt was equalized by losing Kari, Moochi, Suezo, and the children they'd had with them from the orphanage. She sat on the steps to the mausoleum, buried her face in her hands, and cried.

"You hear something?" Matt asked.

"Besides her crying? …Maybe," Tai answered. He wrapped his fingers around the handle to one of the drawers of the mausoleum, and he pulled. "It's stuck," he grunted. "Could you give me a hand?"

After a few minutes of pulling, Matt said, "I think it's locked…"

Tai rapped on the drawer, and someone rapped back. "There's somebody _alive _in here! Yolei, give us a hand, here!"

"Huh?"

"There's somebody in this drawer!"

Yolei grabbed on to Matt's back, who was holding on to Tai's back. All three of them pulled.

Agumon looked at the development, and had an idea. "Pepper breath!" He shot a fireball at the lock of the drawer, and the lock gave way. Tai, Matt, and Yolei all fell backwards as the drawer came open.

Tai looked into the drawer, and there, breathing heavily, was Kari, with Gatomon on her chest. "Tai?" she croaked.

"Kari? How did you get in there?"

"We decided to hide in these drawers until we knew that you weren't a menace machine. But there isn't a way to open them from the inside."

"…Oh… Well, let's get the rest of them open before they all smother!"

******

"Oh, why us?" June mewed. "The day they send us out to find the others, it starts pouring! Why?"

"Oh, there's always rain clouds hovering over your head, June!"

"Thanks a bunch, Tina!" she spat.

"I'm just joking, June. What's got you so ticked?"

"I don't know…I guess I just realized that nothing is stable. That's life: nothing is permanent. We thought that they'd never attack the nuke plant, and they did. We thought the Digiworld would be around for good, and it wasn't."

"Like you say, that's life. You can adapt, you can gripe, or you can sleep it off."

"I'd like to be in bed and asleep, right now!" June muttered. "But then, I don't have a bed, anymore: all I have is a polyethylene rain poncho for a blanket and Tibemon's legs for a pillow!"

"You complain too much, June," Tina muttered.

"Frankly, I think I have a lot to complain about."

"Hey, you're still alive, aren't you?"

"I guess…"

"Tuli Dra Jalnor!"

"Run for it!" Tina yelled, without looking back. A tidal wave of lava splashed after them as they ran, and Tina could feel the dreaded heat coming after her. (She couldn't stand being too hot, and was glad it was raining, because it meant she wouldn't die from heat exhaustion.)

"Oh, great! _Two_ catamarines!" June muttered. "Why do you think they came after us?"

The Unnamed Figure offered, "Because it's a seek and destroy mission, maybe?" He stepped out of the shadows.

"Toast him, Joey!" Tina shouted.

Joey let out his war cry whistle and fired a beam of white light out from his gun at him. The shot narrowly missed him and burned a hole through his cloak. He hid back in the alleyway.

"The catamarines are the real problem, Tina!" June shouted. "Come on!"

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

"**Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**" Mermon immediately began firing torpedoes at the two catamarines at their heads and the joints of their legs.

"You're not beating two _urbo-ator-thera_!" The Unnamed Figure sneered.

"Don't be so sure about that!" Mermon shouted, getting dangerously close to the two catamarines: right between them!

"Now, you're fish and chips!" The Unnamed Figure sneered, sending a command to the two catamarines to fire at her. But their lava streams went right through her like she wasn't even there, and the lava covered the catamarines' eyes.

"Ha-_ha_!" Mermon taunted. "I have the ability to change my subspace-flux state: I can let stuff go through me like that at will!" She flew up to The Unnamed Figure and smacked his gauntlet with her ax.

"Aw, _man_!" he whined. "You and your mother keep taking away my gauntlets!" he muttered at Tina. "That's the second one this week!"

Tina ran up to him and gave his face the hardest slap she could. "All right, you traitor! Where did you see my mother?"

"…In Linonian HQ. She is currently my personal concu---"

"I know when a guy is lying through his teeth! Where did you meet her?"

"The corner of Tenth and Division. I doubt she's still there."

"We'll see about that." Reaching for the hood of his cloak, she added, "And now, let's see your face!"

She didn't see it coming, but The Unnamed Figure grabbed her and aimed his gauntlet at her neck. "Mermon, go back down to your rookie forms or your little friend is dead!"

"I don't think so! I destroyed your gauntlet so that you wouldn't be able to use it for anything! You're bluffing!"

He hurled Tina at Mermon and ran the other way while she was busy catching her.

"Do we go after him?" Mermon asked.

"No. We go back to base and tell the others to look for Mom at Tenth and Division."


	15. Chapter 14: Friendly Enmity

NOTE: Christian content

Chapter 14: Friendly Enmity

"Aw, great! You forgot to get a can opener!" Kari complained.

"That's okay," Gatomon insisted. She brandished her claws and cut the lid off from one of the cans.

"Oh…"

"Sorry, Kari," Tai said. "You'll have to find another reason to be a gloomy-gus today."

"Oh, I bet I can find one," she shot back. "When the menace machines leave and the climate gets back to normal, _then_ it'll get tougher to find a reason!"

Tai shook his head. "Just no pleasing you!"

There would've been an awkward silence if it hadn't been for the squabbling of children over the food they'd just managed to get. Agumon and Gabumon started a few fires to cook the stuff, and they ate. Tai, Yolei, Matt, and Kari didn't have as much food as the others; they knew that the younger children and the digimon and Monsters took priority. They just hoped that there was some way to get them food tomorrow.

That night, Tai heard Kari's voice say, "Tai…are you awake?"

"Yes. Is there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah."

"Let's talk outside, so we won't wake anyone up. There's an overhang that shelters the steps to the mausoleum."

They stepped outside, and it was still raining, just as hard as before.

"What is it, Kari?" Tai asked.

Kari shivered a little and pulled up the hood of her raincoat and tightened the strings. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but whatever was on the tip of her tongue went flying backwards into the pit of her stomach: she didn't know how to put how she felt into words. She sighed and leaned on her brother's shoulder. "We're toast, aren't we?"

"Kari, you're letting despair get the better of you."

"I'm scared, Tai…I'm scared half to death, but I couldn't show it…not in front of those kids, I couldn't!" she said with a sob.

"Kari…" Tai put an arm around her and insisted, "We're not going to die, Kari! Why would God keep us alive and then kill us here?"

"How does God factor in to this?"

"How doesn't He? …Kari, I don't mean to be criticizing you, but, all your life, you've been saying, 'what if this goes wrong?' and 'what'll happen after this happens?' and you've been forgetting that God provides and He controls… that's what He's doing right now."

"Then how come all this bad stuff keeps happening?"

"Bad stuff happening is the consequences of people doing bad stuff."

"Are you saying this happened to Earth because we deserved it??"

"No. I'm saying that it was wrong for whoever messed up time to have attacked us. And I'm saying that it was the choice of our enemy---the 'Linonian Empire', whoever that is---to have messed stuff up. God didn't choose to hurt us."

"Then how can He control if people keep making bad choices?"

"He does, Kari. Look outside. What do you see?"

"It's dark and it's cold and it's pouring rain."

"Now, see? It's dark. That means the luftwaffles can't get us. And you still have your raincoat with you, don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"And how many children made it out of the orphanage alive in that attack?"

"It was…_all_ of them!"

Tai snapped his fingers. (A true feat for someone wearing gloves.) "There. Now, what do you say about God?"

Looking up, Kari said, "God, I'm sorry for doubting you."

At that moment, there was a glint of light from the sun.

Kari smiled at the warmth and light, but sighed that she couldn't stick around to enjoy it. "I think we'd better get in before a luftwaffle spots us," Kari thought aloud.

"No kidding."

******

"This has 'trap' written all over it," Hare said as he and Tiger went off to check out Tenth and Division.

"I know. I don't think we can really trust that guy like that. I'm not sure I've ever seen him, but can tell you right now that he's not worth trusting."

They crept quietly up to a corner behind a building so as to avoid being seen. "…So, do I go in while you watch my back, or do you go in while I watch yours?"

"Good question. Saving your life is almost---"

"Almost what? _What_?"

Tiger sighed. "Why are we pretending like there's nothing between Renamon and the two of us?"

"That's a good question," Hare shot back with his arms folded.

"Didn't you dump her?"

"I did, but---"

"But what? You wish you hadn't?"

"What's it to you if I do?"

Tiger snarled. "I won't have you stealing her away from me!"

"Well, if this mission fails and one of us gets killed, then that won't be a problem, will it?"

"Or if both of us get killed, for that matter," Tiger added, looking over Hare's shoulder.

Hare looked over his shoulder, and there was nothing there. "What are you looking at?"

"The street sign. If I remember the number system on this planet, we're a few blocks south of Tenth and Division."

"…Don't _do_ that!"

"Do what?"

"Look over my shoulder while you're talking to me! That creeps me out, like there are some menace machines about to attack us!"

"Well, just be glad there aren't!"

"You _had_ to say that, didn't you?" Hare asked as a cybertooth roared at them. "Which one of us takes him?"

"You!" Tiger answered, putting the digi-egg of courage where Hare could reach it.

"**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**" Firabbit flew up and shot his Clinker Beam at the cybertooth. "This'll be over before you can say---"

"Darwawo Ota!" the cybertooth shouted. The blast sent Firabbit flying, along with the digi-egg of friendship that he'd been holding for Tiger. That meant Tiger wouldn't be able to module-evolve unless he could find it back.

Tiger watched Firabbit as he went flying through the air and shouted after him, "Thanks a bunch, pal! …Hey, where'd you go?!" Firabbit had disappeared while in midair. "…Whoa, boy!" Tiger sighed as he found himself in a one-on-one with the cybertooth. "This guy is not going to be easy!"


	16. Chapter 15: New and Improved Threat

Chapter 15: New and Improved Threat

"Lightning!" Tiger shouted, firing a pair of bolts fly from his horns. The cybertooth staggered backwards, but it didn't look hurt.

"Kin Non!" it shouted back, firing a stream of flame at Tiger. Tiger was too agile for it to land a hit on him.

"So fire is your element, huh? Then let's see how you like this! Blizzard!"

"Darwawo Ota!" The red ball of energy broke the stream and sent the snow Tiger was shooting in every direction. Tiger jumped out of the way at the last second.

"This is _really_ getting annoying!" Tiger snarled. "It's high time I---"

"Clinker Beam!" Tiger was glad to hear that, but it sounded like three voices were saying it. And, as the situation got better, three beams of fire hit the cybertooth and killed it. Tiger was more than a little shocked, so he turned, and---as his ears had suggested---there were three Firabbits.

"Oh, as if Renamon being split between _two_ of us wasn't enough, now there are _four_ of us?"

"We're as surprised at this as you are," one of the three Firabbits answered. "One second, there was only one of us, and then---!"

"I saw you disappear when that cybertooth shot you and you were flying through the air…there's a lot of stuff going weird with time…what if you hit a time field that multiplied you while you were in mid-air?"

"That's the only conclusion that's logical," another Firabbit mused.

"But how do we go back to there being just one of us?" another asked.

"Go back in the time field?"

"Would that make nine of us, though?"

"Hey, then there would be nine eggs of courage, wouldn't there?"

"So we have something to gain, either way?"

"I guess…"

"Let's try it!"

Tiger hesitated, and his mouth slowly dropped open as he saw the three Firabbits talking amongst themselves. He hadn't known Firabbit for talking to himself, but this brought a whole new meaning to the phrase "talking to yourself". And this situation was the most absurd thing that Tiger had ever seen; it demanded a moment of reflection that turned into a moment of mental absence. (One can hardly blame Tiger for wanting to be mentally absent from such a bizarre display; it was bad enough that he had to be physically present.) "W-wait up!" he yelled after them as he snapped out of it and ran after them. He ran to where the three Firabbits had stopped, and they were all looking at one place, and they were looking up and down. "What's so interesting?"

"Is it just us, or is there something here?"

Tiger looked. He could barely see it, but there were patches of light and dark in front of him, as if something was casting a watery shadow on the walls of the building in front of him. Tiger slowly circled the anomaly, taking in what it looked like and how it behaved, and the patterns showed up on buildings on the other side of the street, too. "There _is_ something here that's messing with the light, all right."

"This must be the time field…you guys ready to give it a shot?" one Firabbit asked the others.

"I'm all for it."

"Ditto."

"Let's go."

The three entered the strange twister of light, and---after a few seconds---out came one Firabbit.

"Well…it worked!" Firabbit thought aloud.

"That it did, but the egg of friendship is still missing!"

"It is not!" Firabbit spat. "It's right here in my hand!" He showed Tiger the egg.

Tiger let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now, let's get to Tenth and Division before something else happens."

******

"So…what're we going to do for food, anyhow?" Tai asked. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm about ready for breakfast."

"We need to go out and look for some more," Yolei sighed. "Hawkmon and Gatomon are recovered, so Kari and I can go out and look for food." Yolei pulled the digi-eggs of love and sincerity out of her backpack. "Tai, Matt, you carry these. Touch them to Moochi and Suezo if there's any trouble."

"You got it!"

"We'll do that."

"Good. Ready for a hike, Kari?"

"No," Kari grunted, just getting up. "But I'm ready for breakfast."

"Oh, and keep an eye on the one in the purple raincoat," Yolei added. "She's essentially mentally retarded…or something like."

"…Okay. Hurry back, okay?"

"We will." Kari picked up Gatomon and Yolei picked up Hawkmon. They were just leaving the mausoleum when they saw themselves, coming back in with armloads of groceries. Both quartets were startled, but the Yolei from the in-coming group said, "Just go out and look for food in the grocery store a few blocks west of here."

Nobody else said a word. The out-going Kari asked the out-going Yolei, "Do we believe her?"

"Um…sure. …I'm wondering if I shouldn't take that as an insult, you not believing me," Yolei muttered.

"With time messed up, I don't know what to believe. But it's good to know we make it back, that's for sure!"

"Amen."

They walked along undisturbed for a few minutes. Then--- "Darwawo Non!" a canis-tor shouted. The purple spark of light barely missed Yolei.

"Step of cat!" Gatomon answered, sending a flash of energy through the ground back at the canis-tor. The canis-tor didn't survive the hit.

"Thanks, Gatomon," Kari said.

"No problem; I'm nowhere _near_ tired, yet!"

"I just hope that no other menace machines heard that."

******

The Unnamed Figure was very glad that the sub-major hadn't been angry that he'd lost those two gauntlets. He didn't know _why _the sub-major wasn't angry, but now, his gauntlet was working again, and it had gotten an upgrade. It wasn't up to the full power he had been hoping for, but it was better than it had been. He peeked out of an alleyway, and he saw a couple of creatures walking his way. They looked biological, so he figured that they probably weren't menace machines. They were talking about Tenth and Division, so he knew that they were with that Tina-girl. Then, it occurred to him: he'd get some major brownie points with the sub-major if he would be able to find out where their base was by forcing them to run there.

"Ewemon, Maggotmon, get ready!" He and his two digimon jumped out from their hiding places. "**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

Hare and Tiger stopped in their tracks. "Aw, great!" Hare sighed. "More fighting to do!"

"It doesn't stop here!" The Unnamed Figure snorted. "**Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon, digivolve to…Houndramon!**"

"**Pestilimon, digivolve to…Centimon!**"

Tiger looked at the digi-egg of friendship. "Should we?"

"I can't module-evolve to Firabbit; I'm too low on energy. If you choose to fight, we'll be outnumbered and outgunned!"

The Unnamed Figure placed a pair of pokéballs in his D-Gauntlet and sneered at them. "You certainly _will_ be outnumbered and outgunned! ** Digi-modify! Co-Op digivolution, activate!**"

"**Houndramon, Co-Op digivolve to…Saberus!**"

"**Centimon, Co-Op digivolve to…Maggonet!**" Maggonet was clearly the combination of Centimon and a magneton. It looked like a centipede, but its legs were all magnets, and it had a magnet on its head for antennae.

"All right, I think our best move is to run for it," Hare said.

"Right!" Tiger agreed.

Saberus and Maggonet kept their distance from Tiger and Hare. Just as they were getting to the boxcar, Hare thought, "Hey, with three evolutions, you'd think those things would be fast enough to catch up by now!"

"They aren't, though, are they?" Tiger asked. "Let's get in and get reinforcements, so that---"

"No, wait! That's what they want us to do! He's trying to get us to show him where our base is! They haven't fired one attack at us yet!"

"So…what do we do?"

"We find some other place to hide, and hope they wear out before we do!"

"That's a high hope, with you along!" Tiger snarled.

"Thanks a bunch. Maybe your girlfriend, Renamon, will save your tail?!"

"Oh, she's _my_ girlfriend now, huh?"

Hare said back through his nose, "If I'm so slow, you'll be the only one left for her!"

The Unnamed Figure's digimon were getting sick of chasing them. "Should we blast them?" Maggonet asked. "It's tough to run in this form!"

"Quit complaining!" he shot back. "If we're patient, then we'll be able to find out where their base is!"

After a few more minutes, it became apparent that they were leading them in circles. "All right, _I'm_ getting sick of this!" The Unnamed Figure snarled. "Start shooting at them, but only warning shots. Maybe a little motivation will make them go back home! They can't last forever!"

"Zap Cannon!"

"Tri attack!"

Hare skipped out of way of a blast of ice. "Uh, Tiger, I think they caught on that we caught on!"

"Let's just hope they don't catch _us_!"

"So what now?"

"You're the one with all the plans! Answer your own question!"

"Uh…you'll have more stamina as Thunderdog, and I can ride you away from them!"

"Oh, right, dump the work on me!"

"You have a better idea??"

"No, I don't! …**Tiger, module-evolve to…Thunderdog!**"

"Now, get moving and keep moving!" Hare shouted as he jumped on Thunderdog's back.


	17. Chapter 16: Time Will Tell

Chapter 16: Time Will Tell

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Yolei asked.

"That depends," Hawkmon answered. "Did you think you just saw a pair of strange digimon chasing after Thunderdog and Hare?"

"That's what I remember seeing," Yolei answered.

Kari gulped. "Then…what do we do?"

"We help them out, that's what!"

"But we came to get food!"

"They're our fighters, and the more fighters that we can get with us, the better! And they can help us carry once we save their necks! Come on, already!"

Kari sighed. "I'm with you, Yolei, but I'm really not sure about this…I mean, if we DNA digivolve, then both Gatomon and Hawkmon will be too tired to fight later!"

"Then they'll stay as Swampangemon until we're almost back! Come _on_!"

"…Okay," she sighed.

"**Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**"

"**Altairmon!**"

"**Gatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Swampangemon!**"

"**Swampangemon, mode-change to…giga mode!**" Swampangemon grew to a huge size. She picked up Yolei and Kari and put them in her pocket. "You could fit a lot of groceries in there," Swampangemon said.

"I guess we could, couldn't we?" Kari agreed.

Swampangemon flew after the two creatures that were chasing Hare and Thunderdog. "You recognize either of those two digimon?" she asked Kari and Yolei.

"Never seen them before," Yolei answered.

"Me either," Kari said.

"Then I hope this will work on them. Hydro stream!" A blast of water flew out Swampangemon's sleeves at the two creatures. They stopped in their tracks and turned around.

The long, metallic creature shouted, "Thunder!" A lightning bolt fell out of the sky at Swampangemon, and she dodged out of the way of the bolt.

"Tri attack!" the other shouted.

"Static pulse!" Swampangemon shouted. Her attack lasted longer, but it managed to cancel her opponent's attack.

"Zap Cannon---_ack!_" Maggonet was still wet with Swampangemon's water attack, so it electrocuted itself in its attempt at attacking Swampangemon. It became a tired magneton and Maggotmon.

"You're great, but not great enough!" Saberus shouted up to her. "Earthquake!" it shouted. A crack went flying along the ground at Swampangemon. Swampangemon took off into the air, and the crack never damaged her.

"Static pulse!" she shouted, firing a beam of red and orange light at the remaining creature. It became a tired and injured Ewemon and a dodrio. "Still not great enough for you?" Swampangemon asked.

The Unnamed Figure picked himself up. "You won't get away with this!" He sneered. He swiped a card through his D-Gauntlet. "**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**" Nekhbetmon swooped down out of the clouds in the sky and picked up the drenched Unnamed Figure and his four fallen creatures. Swampangemon ignored it as it flew away.

"You okay?" Swampangemon asked Hare and Thunderdog.

"Yeah…actually, we were here looking for Yolei," Hare said.

"She's in my pocket," Swampangemon said. She scooped Kari and Yolei out and set them down next to Hare and Tiger. Swampangemon returned to her usual size.

"Wow…even with the digi-eggs, we don't have transformations like that!" Hare said. "But it's great to know that we found you! Your daughter what's-her-name fished some information out of that guy with the cloak about where he fought you, and so they sent us out to look for you."

"You know where Tina is?" Yolei asked.

"Yeah. But I don't know where we are."

"Where is she now?"

"She's staying in this one building four blocks east and seven blocks south of Tenth and Division."

"Good. Once we get the food we set out to find, we'll have to pay a visit there," Kari smiled.

"Wait---_after_??!!" Yolei asked. She was very eager to see Tina again.

"Well…yeah; we're on a time budget. Remember?"

"Oh, all right!" Yolei sighed.

"Hey, if I had a daughter, I'd want to see her ASAP, too, but we have responsibilities, here! Let's get the food and get back there. Hare and Thunderdog, you two get back to your base, and we'll meet you there later."

"How much later?"

"Time will tell. C'mon, Swampangemon," Kari said, climbing onto Swampangemon's foot and grabbing onto her shoulder so that she'd be able to ride her. Yolei climbed onto Swampangemon's other side, and they flew off to the grocery store that the future Yolei had suggested. They landed outside the store and loaded themselves up with food, then sped back to the mausoleum.

"Say, Yolei, shouldn't we have used Swampangemon's giga mode so that we'd be able to carry the whole store's inventory back with us?"

"Maybe we should have, but if we don't---!" Yolei's sentence ground to a halt as she saw her past self and past versions of Kari and their digimon coming out of the mausoleum. Without waiting for one of their past selves to say anything, Yolei said, "Just go out and look for food in the grocery store a few blocks west of here," and entered the mausoleum.

"…That was weird," Kari thought aloud.

"But it's over."

******

Guess who was on watch duty as Tiger and Hare came back to base? It was Renamon.

"How'd it go? Not too great, judging from the fact that you don't have Yolei with you." Renamon noted, answering her own question.

"But we know where Yolei is!" Tiger insisted.

"Where is she?" Renamon asked.

Trying to get the censure off himself, Tiger said, "Uh…Hare, tell her where she is."

"Tiger forgot to ask," Hare answered. "She told us she'll be coming here."

"Oh, _really_?"

"Oh, she'll be here! We found her, but we met these two…uh, mega digimon, and they were trying to attack us. So, while Tiger was cowering in a corner, I had to fight them off. I was ready to die fighting, and to the untrained eye it _looked_ like that was going to happen. So Swampangemon shot the two megas and sent them back down to rookie. I wasn't about to get killed _really,_ but oh, well…it's the thought that counts, right?"

"I see…and was Yolei with Swampangemon?"

"Oh, yes, and she said she had another errand to do, and that she'd be over once she was done."

"Where will she be coming from?"

"Uh…Tiger forgot to ask!"

"It sounds like Tiger doesn't really know what he's doing out there. He should stay at base with me on watch duty, then," Renamon said nonchalantly.

"Oh, he's great when it comes to small digimon or menace machines! How many megas can there _be_ out there? I mean, lightning never strikes the same place twice! Especially not when Tiger's the one shooting it, but---"

"But she's _right_!" Tiger insisted. "My eyes are better than my fighting! I'd be a _way _better lookout than a fighter!"

"Oh, come on! You don't stink!"

"But I do!"

"Um…could you two excuse me a moment?" Renamon asked.

"Sure, anything you say!" both Monsters answered.

Renamon walked into the building so that they wouldn't hear her laugh her head off.

"If you refuse to insult me like that again, _ ever_, I'll eat you!" Tiger snarled.

"And if you insult yourself again, I'll burn you to a crisp!" Hare shot back.


	18. Chapter 17: Time to Strike Back

Chapter 17: Time to Strike Back!

"Mom!" Tina shouted. Yolei braced herself as Tina went flying into her and knocked her over. "Ow! …Guess that whole run-dive-and-hug thing worked better when you were grown-up, huh Mom?"

"Tina, I'm so glad to see you back!"

"Hey, save some gushing for Dad!"

Both girls giggled. "Where is your father, anyway?" Yolei asked.

"Dad's downstairs. In the storm sewers. Probably talking with Cody."

"Storm sewers?" Yolei asked.

Tina took her mother by the hand and led her into the boxcar. "See how all this wheat kind of sinks in the middle?"

"Yeah…"

"That's because someone pulled the plug."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I mean that---well, let me start at the beginning," she explained, pulling her mother closer in towards the manhole and beginning to climb down. "When you all got separated, Cody and T.K. got a whole bunch of refugees together and brought them here. They'd been hiding in this sewer for a while before we found them, and we found them by accident. We did the trade mission like we were supposed to, and so we had this boxcar full of grain. When we found the power plant leveled, we looked for another place to hide the food, and we ended up hiding the grain boxcar in this alleyway, right over the manhole that they used as an entrance. Of course, they couldn't get out, so they tried to weld through the manhole to get out."

"And that pulled the plug on the wheat, and it dumped on them…whoa…was anyone hurt?"

"Nope. Miracle, isn't it?"

"I'll say."

"Anyhow, I found the grain boxcar half-full like this, and so I went down here to see what was up, and then I told everyone on the surface about it, and---oh, that reminds me, where's Ingrid?"

"That girl you adopted? …She's still at the mausoleum."

"Mausoleum?!?!"

"We were using it as cover! A mega digimon couldn't blast through its walls, and there are drawers to hide in if all else fails."

"Just the thought of her in there with all those dead bodies grosses me out!"

"The dead bodies are in the drawers we don't use. Anyways, I would've brought her along, but I thought it was too dangerous."

"Then I'd like to see her at the mausoleum."

"You'd have to talk June into coming along," Yolei pointed out, with a hint of singing in her voice.

"I might be able to pull that off," Tina thought to herself. "Then again…" Tina sighed. "And I'd have to talk Rika into coming along, too."

"Your old roommate? Why?"

"She's…I promised not to tell anyone, but she's going through a lot right now---more than most people---and I told her I'd be there for her if she needed anybody. And if I had to move away to the orphanage _permanently_, then…"

"I see what you mean…but, then again, we could always use another fighter there."

"I guess…and Rika's digimon can warp-digivolve, now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Cleaver must've made a warp-digivolving card, because she found one in the rubble of the nuke plant."

"Hmm…say, how far down is it on this ladder?" Yolei asked, realizing that they had been climbing for a long time.

"Not much farther."

After a little while longer of climbing, Tina declared, "We're here! Cody! My mom's home!"

"Yolei, where've you been?"

"Minding the orphanage with Kari. What've you been up to?"

"Keeping the people down here alive! How've you been faring with food where you are?"

"Let's just say that we could use what Imperialdramon brought back. You?"

"We were starving, up until we found Imperialdramon's food."

"Ouch!"

"Well, you beat us to the food reserves when the attack started!" Cody shot back.

"At least we're back together," Yolei sighed. "Where's Ken?"

"Down the bend."

Yolei tiptoed up behind her husband as he was speaking to someone else. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"…_Honey??!_"

Yolei answered with the biggest kiss she could force her pre-teen mouth to plant on Ken's face.

"Yolei! I…I don't believe it!"

Yolei didn't stop embracing her husband. "Thanks for bringing our daughter back in one piece," she sobbed.

"It was…no problem. You know she's a smart girl."

"That's why it's so tough to keep her alive!"

They had a lot to talk about…too much to recount here. But they were together again, and that was the important thing.

"What do we do now?" she sighed at the end of their long conversation.

"That's a good question," Ken sighed.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tina asked, butting in to her parent's discussion.

"No, it's not," Yolei shot back. "What do we do?"

"We have to counterattack and wipe them out! That way, this won't happen again!"

"But how will we ever _do _that?" Yolei asked. "We don't know if their base in Japan is their only one, we don't know what their defenses are, we don't---"

"Oh, quit griping about little details!" Tina spat. "If we don't have enough information to attack, we'll gather information. We'll comb the woods for any hideouts of theirs. We'll run an underground, we'll storm their castle, we'll do whatever it takes to get them off our world!"

"But…but…"

"The alternative is letting them take over," Ken pointed out.

"…Then let's tell the rest of our fighters and get an attack plan started."

******

"The D-Gauntlet works, but I'll need even _ more_ power soon."

"Do not worry. One of our scientists has a theory that could increase the capacity of your gauntlet by 70% if his theory holds."

"Good. How long will it take to install?"

"Another few days. But, while he is working on that, we have another project for you. I seems that we have encountered a way to speed up one of our other projects. By tomorrow, you will be supervising an important project to secure our base's archipelago and rid us of the threat of those pesky resistance fighters!"

"Sounds great to me. I'll rest up until then. Will I need my beauty sleep?"

"Do sleep. I understand humans need to be well-rested in order to operate heavy machinery."


	19. Chapter 18: Toadstools

Chapter 18: Toadstools

" 'Comb the woods', you said," June complained. " 'We'll find their secret bases', you said. Now, did it ever occur to you that combing the woods might mean wading in the rain through knee-deep wet leaves?"

Tina was skipping along, humming to herself. "Are you kidding? I think it's perfect out. The air smells wonderful, it's just the right temperature, and---"

"_And_ we could die of pneumonia!"

"Oh, cope!" Tibemon grunted. "You complain about everything, June! We're sick of hearing you complain."

"And I'm sick of it raining all the time and us not being able to enjoy a little sunshine once in a while!" she sobbed.

Tina's heart suddenly became at odds with her sense of humor: does she help her friend in pain, or does she have a little fun with her? Youngdramon made the decision for her: "June, there's a skunk behind you!"

June froze. "What do we do about that?"

"Don't move. Usually, they won't spray if you don't move."

"Is he going away?"

"Nope. He's coming closer to you."

"EEEE!!"

"Ssshh! …He's crawling up your leg!"

"…I can feel it…!" (This was all in June's head.)

"_He's about to bite you on the bottom!_"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" 

"_HE_…never existed."

June looked like she was about to explode. "Hey, I didn't sign up for 'let Youngdramon torture me' duty!" She sighed. "I need to sit down," she said through gritted teeth. Fortunately, there was a big red mushroom nearby for her to sit on. And it looked just like a metal mushroom stool in a kid's playground. It even felt like a big metal stool. In fact, it was metal, but it wasn't meant to be a stool. June didn't know this, tough; she sat down on it and kept griping and sassing, not realizing that a pair of laser guns was sticking up out of the ground and beginning to aim at her.

"Dragon Bomb!"

"Shark bite!"

The two laser guns exploded, much to June's surprise. The mushroom fell over limp and dumped June into the wet leaves. After a squeal of surprise, June picked herself up. "What was _that_?!"

"Menace machine?" Tina suggested.

"Looks like they have more here than we bet on!" Tibemon thought aloud.

"And I'm liking this less and less…okay, so we have more information! Let's get back to base and write it down before something else happens to us---"

"Oh, right! We learn about _one_ new menace machine, and you want to call it quits?"

"I'll take _any_ excuse for getting out of here!" June spat.

Tina rolled her eyes. "I've heard that these digivices have radar on them, or something like that," Tina thought aloud, taking her digivice out of her pocket. "Maybe this can tell us something… Hmm…I know that red blips are digivices, blue blips are digi-eggs, but I can't tell what those orange blips are…?"

"Orange? …Orange blips are dimensional anomalies," Tibemon answered.

"Then I think it's time we paid those orange blips a visit," Tina mused.

"Do we _have_ to? I mean, finding a portal into their dimension (or finding out that they _have _a dimension, for that matter) would be great, but we aren't the best of fighters for this, are we?" June begged.

"I'm not planning to fight," Tina shot back. "All we do is watch from a distance."

June sighed. "Okay, but the second there's trouble, I want out of there!"

As they walked along, Tibemon suddenly whispered for them to hide. There was space enough under one of the nearby trees for them to hide.

"And I'd rather not get out from under here," June added as she shut her umbrella and crawled under.

"What're we hiding from, anyways?" Tina whispered.

"Lift-tor," Tibemon answered. Tina carefully peeked out from under the tree, and she saw a crane-like menace machine, lifting an M-shaped tangle of wires and lasers that looked like it had a red mushroom head---exactly like the mushroom June had sat on. There were a few throwbacks there as well, and the throwbacks were cutting down trees and digging in the ground. They were making a clearing in the woods, for some reason.

Finally, the lift-tor lowered its strange payload into one of the holes in the ground. Then it picked up another M-shaped tangle of wires and laid it down. And another, and another, until there were six in all.

"**Clave-tor-purea, noh kreshnaiona djom…Clave-tor-d'dohr!**" 

"What was that?" June asked.

"It looks like…there are lift-tors and throwbacks building something over there. They're making a clearing in the woods and they're putting some machines like the one you sat on in holes in the ground, and then covering them up so that only the mushroom head is sticking up out of the ground."

"You mean those things are immobile menace machines?" June asked.

"Yeah, and it looks like they aren't supposed to move, either," Tina agreed. "And you get six of them in a ring, they evolve together! After they evolve, their mushroom heads are different: these are blue. The one you sat on was red."

"So we have a problem on our hands?" June asked.

"Yeah. And…hold on a minute," Tina said, pulling her digivice out of her pocket again. "There's a new orange blip that just came on screen…right where they just put all those mushroom machines. I wonder if---??" Tina's sentence came to a halt as she saw a cloud of light above the ring of mushrooms. Out from the cloud came a canis-tor.

"What? What do you see?"

"Those rings of mushrooms let them teleport in reinforcements! We need to trash this installation, and we need to do it now!"

"Do we have to?" June moaned.

"_Yes!_ Come on!"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"**Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**" Mermon flew into the clearing. "Destructor torpedo!" she shouted, firing a few missiles at the lift-tors to get them out of the way first. The lift-tors didn't go down without some work, but they went down.

"Gazriota!" the throwbacks began throwing laser fire up at her.

"Mer poleax!" she shouted, spinning her ax like a propeller in front of herself. The laser shots ricocheted off her ax right back at the throwbacks.

"YoNon H'vekk!" A six-voiced shout rose up from the half-buried ring of mushrooms, and twelve laser bolts went flying at Mermon.

"Mer poleax! …Boy, I'm starting to think we should've gotten reinforcements!" Mermon thought.

"We have to get rid of the mushrooms!" Tina shouted up to Mermon. "Shoot the ones they haven't installed yet! Those won't be as strong!"

"It's worth a shot! ---And a shot is going to be tough to get in; I need my ax to keep reflecting the enemy attacks away!"

"Then _we'll_ have to take care of them!" Tina shouted.

"We don't have any special attacks! How do you expect _us_ to destroy those things?" June cried.

"There is a very simple answer to that question: 'no'."

"Uh…you're not making much sense…"

"You'll see what I mean in a minute. ♫Oh, Joey! ♫"

Joey stuck his head out of Tina's overalls pocket. "?"

"Could you shoot those mushroom-thingies for us?"

"Mushroom? Joey not know word for 'mushroom'. Is room that mushes?"

"No. I'll show you." Tina took Joey to the mushroom that they had destroyed before. "It's like one of those!"

"Oh, Tina mean _clave-ator-purea_."

"Yeah, whatever…just shoot them, will ya?"

"Okay." Joey aimed his laser cannon at the rings of buried mushrooms and shot a few of them. For a brief second, the ring stopped shooting.

"Destructor torpedo!" Mermon shouted, firing at the heap of uninstalled mushrooms. She managed to get a few pot shots in at the rings of active mushrooms, too.

Tina looked at her digivice. "Mermon, that takes care of all the orange blips---there aren't any more dimension gates! We can head for home now!"

"I think we should; this place is a little too hot for my tastes!" she muttered, referring to the laser fire she kept having to deflect away.

"And I'm dying to get out of this rain!" June screamed.

"Then let's get out of here, already!" Tina yelled. They two girls grabbed on to Mermon's ax handle and they flew off. "So…mission accomplished, I'd say," Tina sighed.

"What was that? Get soaking wet?"

"June, you complain too much! …No, _not_ get soaking wet. If I wanted us to do that, I'd take us to the beach. We found a new type of menace machine, and now we have some idea of where all these menace machines are coming from. All we have to do to free Earth is to find all the mushrooms and destroy them!"

"Oh, easy task!"

"_Quit complaining, June_!"

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Cyst-M (Tetsumasshū)  
Real Name: Clavi-tor-purea  
Caste: Jolii Var'ka  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
Non H'vekk  
Dra Wisht'  
Comments:  
The Cyst-M is an immobile tor that lives underground. It is armed with two laser weapons, and its mushroom head is capable of draining the energy of any SI life-form that steps on it. The two boxy structures at the ends of the Cyst-M are its power cells, which, if severed from the CPU that is beneath the mushroom head, will remove all power and all life from the Cyst-M. 

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Unfairy-Ring (Rinumasshū)  
Real Name: Clavi-tor-d'dhor  
Caste: Atat nem tor  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
YoNon H'vekk  
Dra Yon Wisht'  
Comments:  
The unfairy-ring is the combination of six Cyst-M's. The unfairy-ring networks its CPUs together and forms a little digiworld of its own, along with a portal into Earth's dimension. In this digiworld, it constructs crony ator and teleports them in the middle of the ring. It is still capable of dispensing six times the firepower of a Cyst-M and draining other SI lifeforms quickly. 

******

"Tina, I really wish you'd be more careful."

"Mom, I've heard that enough. I'm your daughter, but I'm also a Digidestined. And I need to answer my calling, whether there's danger or not. But, like I said, June and I found a whole bunch of new menace machines, and the Linonian Empire is using them to either beam in or manufacture other menace machines."

"And we both know that this means that we'll be facing even _more_ machines."

"Basically, yeah."

"That is not good. We need to start finding and destroying them."

"There's one other thing, Mom. They need dirt to make them work. Loose dirt. That means they won't be in the cities."

"…The country…"

Tina nodded. "The one place that they didn't get us before. Now they got us."

Yolei rubbed her temples. "What else could they be planning?!"

"We don't know, Mom. That's why, as soon as Youngdramon and Tibemon are back on their feet, June and I will be doing some more scouting."

Yolei sighed at the thought of her daughter back outside, in danger, but she was in no mood to argue with her on the subject. She just ended, "Go get some rest."

******

Misty shuddered at the heavy rain that enveloped the wooded landscape. She, Ghenki, Moochi, Ash---and even Pikachu were all wearing raincoats with their hoods up, and, in the dark and spooky air around them, they looked like faceless wraiths from a medieval movie. She couldn't see her friends' faces because of the shadows, and she imagined that they couldn't see hers, either.

Pikachu couldn't pick up any scent of menace machines in that cold, wet environment, so they were pretty much on their own, and had to rely on sight to find anything worth destroying. That wasn't an easy alternative, either, since visibility was low, and the only light they were using was from the two, creepy, full moons that shone so brightly that their light pierced straight through the clouds.

They were on a mission to find out more about these unfairy-rings that Tina and June had reported seeing. But they weren't finding anything at all, except mud puddles and decaying vegetation on the forest floor. The trees above them looked like they were straight out of a winter scene, without any leaves on them and bare, twisted bark frowning down at the ground. Misty didn't wonder that the machines kept away; this was a place unfit for man nor beast nor SI life form.

"Ash, there's nothing here…I think we ought to go back."

"Misty, if you're scared, then…well…"

"I'm not scared Ash."

"You sure sounded like it."

Pikachu climbed up into Misty's arms and began licking her face. "Chu, ka pika pi chuuu…."

"I've got to admit this _is _creepy," Ghenki said.

"Chi…"

"Misty's right, though…there's nothing here. We should find some other place to look. They're probably in some clearing, since the trees would really get in their way."

They walked for another few minutes, hoping to find some sign of where the forest ended. All of a sudden, Pikachu let out a low hiss.

"What is it? Hear something?" Ash asked.

"Pi-_ka_-chu!" he answered. He dashed forward towards the source of the noise, and it wasn't long before the humans heard it, too. It was a loud clamor of unfairy-rings fighting with something. They looked, and---in the middle of the battle was a large, blue cat.

"What is that thing?"

"No Monster I've ever seen!" Ghenki answered.

"Then it's either a pokémon, or a digimon…and he looks vaguely familiar…" Ash took out his Pokédex and aimed it at the cat.

"Suicune, the aurora pokémon. Legend says that the north winds blow whenever it appears."

"That's a pokémon?" Ash asked.

"He's not doing very well," Misty moaned. "That's a water type?"

"According to the Pokédex, yeah."

"Then…" Misty's sentence trailed off. "Then I'm going to catch him! Pokéball, go!" Misty tossed out a pokéball, but it hit one of the unfairy-rings instead of Suicune.

"At least that's one ring down," Ghenki said, drawing his weapon.

"Moochi Cannon!" Moochi shouted, firing at another of the unfairy-rings.

"Tauros, I choose you!"

"Golduck, go!"

"Tauros, us Earthquake to break up those unfairy-rings, before they make more menace machines!"

"Golduck, use Confusion waves to mess up their circuitry!"

Suicune took this opportunity to try to run, but it was knocked down by a lift-tor, and the lift-tor stepped on its hair, not allowing it to move. The more Suicune struggled, the more pain it felt. It cried out in pain with horrifying, heartrending roars.

"Ash, look at what that crane is doing to poor Suicune!" Misty shouted.

"We'll have to worry about him later! We've got these machines to worry about…especially if some of their created machines show up!"

"You had to say that, didn't you?" Ghenki asked as he hurled Magna's boomerang at one of the saberstrikes. He neatly took its head off.

"Cherry Blossom Blizzard, chi!" The barrage of flower petals knocked more of the saberstrikes to pieces.

"Ash, we need to take care of that big one! He's shooting at Suicune while he's down!" It was no lie. The menace machines weren't squeamish about kicking a man when he's down, because they had no concept of honor. (There were few things that they had a concept of.)

"I'll handle this! Snorlax, I choose you! Use hyper beam!" Snorlax's yellow ray sliced right through the lift-tor, and the lift-tor toppled over, dead.

Suicune didn't feel grateful for this help: he raced away from the battlefield with full speed.

"Ash, he's hurt! He'll never survive if we don't catch him and heal him up!"

"You're only after him because he's a great water-type, aren't you?"

"Okay, I want him in my collection…but still, he needs our help if he's going to survive!"

"She's right, chi!" Moochi cut in. "I saw how bad that thing hit him!"

"…All right. But this'll be a fast chase; Suicune runs a lot faster than most pokémon, but if he's injured, we might be able to keep up. Tauros, Snorlax, return! Pidgeot, I choose you!" 

"Golduck, great work. Return. Starmie, I choose you!"

Ghenki pulled the digi-egg of love out of his pocket. "Now I get to see how it feels for me to evolve another monster!" Ghenki crowed.

"Yeah, but you're missing out on the rush of evolving yourself, chi! **Moochi, module-evolve to…Turtledove!**"

The three of them flew after Suicune, and Suicune was panicking for being chased and injured. He was panting for breath, and couldn't keep from tripping over weeds and fallen-off branches as the two pokémon trainers and Ghenki rode after him. Fortunately for them, he was uninterested in a fight.

"Pidgeot, use quick attack!" Pidgeot flew at Suicune and knocked him for six.

"Starmie, use tackle!" Starmie attacked the same way, and Suicune began to feel faint. "Now, pokéball, go!" Misty hurled the ball at the injured pokémon, and she had him captured.

Misty let out a squeal of delight. "I can't believe it! I have what every water pokémon trainer dreams of! I have _the_ Suicune!"

"Boy, she's sure…_enthusiastic_," Ghenki said.

"You're not putting it strongly enough," Ash answered.

Misty was oblivious to their murmuring. "I know just how to get off on the right foot with him!"

"Huh?" Ash asked.

******

Suicune lay sprawled out on the floor of the storm sewers, with a soft, fuzzy comforter between himself and the cement floor. He still hadn't come to from the fight he had with the machines and the trainers. But they had sprayed super potion on his wounds, and he was healing nicely.

Misty wanted nothing more than to keep him as comfortable as possible, so she used her own lap as a pillow for him. She put her fingers through his hair. It didn't feel like hair; it felt like she was dipping her hand into water. But when she pulled her hand out, there wasn't a drop of moisture on it. She was amazed at this, as she was at just about everything else about this pokémon. She felt his skin, and it was smooth like a dolphin's skin. Other than the watery hair on its head, it had no fur at all.

Suicune began to come to. Misty's mouth dropped open, but---before awe took control of all her mental functions---she realized that she needed to make a good impression on Suicune to "get off on the right foot" with him. So she began gently stroking his skin and singing just as gently…

******

Natasha was hungry. It had been too long since she had eaten, and there wasn't enough food to go around in the storm sewers. She knew that nobody wanted her to go hungry, but there just wasn't any food around; nobody was grinding the grain to make flour or bread…at least, not at that moment. She wondered what could be done---if anything---to get another meal. She came to the conclusion that there was nothing she could do, so she just sat tight and hoped that there would be something to eat in the next little while.

Her train of thought derailed as she heard something like water splashing and a surprised scream in the other room. A few moments later, another girl that she only vaguely recognized walked out of the room holding a red and white ball and with her pink sweatshirt drenched---not to mention a look of shock on her face. "Whoa…have these time anomalies finally done the ultimate weird thing and started making in rain indoors?" Natasha asked.

"_No!!_"


	20. Chapter 19: Motivation

Chapter 19: Motivation

"Misty, you worry _way too much_!"

"Ash, those are the worst-looking thunderclouds I've ever seen in my life!"

"It hasn't rained a drop and there's been no wind for hours. Those clouds aren't going to do anything! You know that the weather can be weird like this, sometimes!"

"Listen, I really don't think that we should be out here!" Misty insisted. "It's freezing cold, that ocean is creeping me out---"

"Wait a sec! You're a water pokémon trainer! Now the _water_ is scaring you?"

"Well, there aren't any pokémon in that water, are there? There are enough menace machines in that water to take over the world!"

"Misty, what's with you? Everything has you scared. C'mon. Tell me what's wrong."

There was a short pause. It was as if Misty didn't know, herself.

"Misty, if there's nothing wrong, then---"

"It's that…" Misty sadly looked down. "I don't want to lose you again."

"…Misty…"

"Ash, when you didn't come back form that trading mission, then I…I just couldn't function! I couldn't fight with my pokémon for days, because I was so scared! Then I was convinced you wouldn't come back, after the nuke plant was destroyed… And now, here you are…"

"Misty…you don't need to be so scared."

Misty inhaled through gritted teeth. "Let's just be careful, okay?"

"…Okay," Ash agreed. He held out his hand to help Misty down from the rock she was standing on.

"So…what _exactly_ are we looking for?" Misty asked.

"Anything these 'Linonian Empire' guys are doing. Particularly their new unfairy-rings that Tina found."

"How will we recognize if---"

"Pi _KA!!_" Pikachu hissed.

"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pi ka chu!" Pikachu answered, motioning for them to join him behind the cover of a rock and pointing to a metallic shape.

"Awh!" Ash thought aloud. "That looks just like the spaceship we saw before, doesn't it, Misty?"

"It does…but, this time, you're _not leaving _the cover of this rock!"

"That's right, I'm not. It looks like there are a whole bunch of gremlins down there…" Ash began fishing around in his backpack. He pulled out a video camera.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Tracy lent it to me. It'll help us archive all that we learn. I hope it can pick up what they're saying," Ash thought again, fitting a couple of earphones in his ears.

"_Noh nah tre akamnatato!!_"

"_Rutan noh nah tre atetantato!_"

"_Ununu_. _Kamnalatato otote anate ure tre yon tetentato djom nmohir kamnatato._"

Misty gaped. "What are they doing with that sand?"

Ash shook his head. "Looks to me like they're rolling in it and playing with it. It's like they're going crazy over the stuff."

"_Retan ¿oquere nahe lel?_"

"_Iflo erriz §oquer nah tre unu§. Oquer aquer lel unuyon §oquer grimn f'iona kamnalatato§._"

"_Ununu. Oquer tre virti § oquer nmah entridu unuyonrui §._"

"_Osw'i kiroiona argiatato! ¿Unu oquer nah entridu netl'?_"

"_Unu flo atat pel._"

Ash let out a grunt of disgust. "I wish we knew what they were saying! I hate it when someone's talking some language I can't understand!" he muttered.

"Ash, I think we should get out of here and report this."

"No, Misty. I'm gonna keep filming this. Maybe we can get a clue what they're saying. Just keep quiet enough so they don't hear you and keep your hand on Golduck's pokéball."

"Golduck? Why would he help?"

"He'd be able to shoot that thing down with his hyper beam, and his Hydro pump and confusion attacks wouldn't hurt, either."

"Okay…"

"Man, that is one ugly cockroach that's going aboard their ship!"

The gremlins kept talking in their strange dialect, and, when their ship was full of sand, they boarded it and flew off.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Ash thought out loud as he kept aiming the camera at the ship taking off.

"Ash, you spoke too soon!" Misty shouted.

"Huh…?" Behind them, there was a cougore, poised to attack.

"Garem Dar!" it shouted. A port on its back opened and it made a strange noise. Misty suddenly collapsed to the ground.

"Misty, what happened?" Ash asked.

"Garem Dar!" it shouted again, and Ash immediately felt what Misty was feeling: overwhelming nausea that made him want to throw up.

Ash croaked, "Pikachu, thundershock it!" Pikachu fried the cougore in one shot.

He ran up to Ash and started licking his face furiously. "Pika-Pi! Pika-Pi!"

"Pikachu, stop that! You're gonna make me---_!!!_" Ash turned away from Pikachu and Misty and lost his lunch. "Boy, that felt wonderful!" Ash muttered.

Misty groaned, "I haven't felt this rotten since I ate my sister's pot roast!"

"Tell me about it! I hate those things!" he groaned, kicking the dead cougore's paw. "You think we should head back?" Ash asked.

"I don't want to be a drag, but I really don't feel up to walking, just yet."

"I don't see why we can't rest up for a minute, anyway."

"Pika," Pikachu warned.

"You see a reason why not, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pika!" Pikachu pointed. There was a wall of rain heading straight for them.

"Aw, gimme a break! Blastoise, I choose you!" Blastoise jumped out of his pokéball.

"What do you plan---_*ngh!*_---on having Blastoise do?" Misty asked.

"Just stand over us," Ash answered, motioning for Blastoise to put his front paws on the rock and stand there to shelter them.

"Oh…that'll work," Misty sighed, rubbing her belly.

They were both still breathing heavily. "Are you okay, Misty?" Ash asked.

"No."

"I meant emotionally, not physically."

"Me, too," Misty answered.

"Listen, Misty…you look like a nervous wreck. Maybe you need to take some time off."

"That would mean---_!_---letting you out of my sight. I'm not ready to do that just yet."

"Misty…"

"Ash, when you--- Oh, _please_ don't make me cry! I have enough on my mind just avoiding throwing up!"

"I don't want to see you do either, Misty. But you have to realize in your heart that I'm back, and that I'm not going to die!"

Misty slow stopped groaning about her stomach. "Ash…I'm sorry…you were dead, to me, and you being dead scared me half to death! It was awful, losing you once…I can't let it happen again!"

"Misty, I know that this whole situation scares you. I admit it: I'm scared, too. But I'm not going to leave you all alone on this miserable planet. If that's what you want, then I'd be willing to make sure that you're never alone by fixing my shifts and quarters so that I'm in the same room as you 24/7. If that's what you need to get over this…" Ash sighed. "Listen, I'm not the biggest fan of mush, and I don't want our lives to turn into some kind of demented soap opera, but if you need a friend to help you through this and if you need constant supervision…I'm here for you."

"Oh, Ash…! I can't tell you how---_!!!!_" Misty covered her mouth, and held her stomach down just long enough to turn away. "**_Ash!!!_** I thought I told you not to make me cry!"

"…Sorry…"

Misty sighed. "Thanks, Ash…but…I still can't get my head around the fact that you're not dead…!"

Ash gently slapped Misty's shoulder. "Is it still tough to believe with me right here next to you?"

"You're not going to think this makes sense, but…yes."

Ash looked like he was about to say something, but a dra-gun interrupted him with a shot to Blastoise's shell. The shot bounced off Blastoise's shell and into the air.

"Blastoise, use bubble beam on that thing!" Ash commanded. As the dra-gun exploded, Ash asked, "Are you feeling any better, Misty?"

"Yeah, but I'm not all that comfortable about walking through the rain."

Ash sighed. "Misty, we don't have _any_ idea when it'll clear up. We might as well get our raincoats on and run for home."

"Well…if you say so, Ash…"

In about thirty seconds, they were bent over and ready for a sprint.

"Ready?"

"Set?"

"_Go!!_" they both shouted. Ash called Blastoise back, and the two of them dashed across the sand. But, before they'd made it off the sand and onto the grass, the rain stopped.

Misty and Ash came to a halt, and, panting, Misty spat, "It's getting easier to believe you're Ash!"

"Oh, shut up, Misty!" Ash shot back, flicking water in her face. "One question---why do you think those guys were getting _ sand_?"

"Researching the Earth's soil?" Misty suggested.

"Probably not. They wouldn't need that much sand for research, would they? And they were filling their ship to the brim with it."

"You know, you're right…it _does_ seem a little bit weird that they'd take that much, doesn't it?"

"Maybe, if we can get what they were saying translated, then we'd be able to find out why they're taking all this worthless sand."

"Hopefully," Misty agreed.

******

"How _do_ we get into these situations?" Suezo asked.

"I'm not sure, chi," Moochi answered, "But I think it might have something to do with **_your flaky teleport attack!!!!_**"

Gary, Suezo and Moochi found themselves completely surrounded by luftwaffles. When the sun had come out, they hadn't found a place to hide in time to avoid being seen. It gets better: Gary had brought his cheerleaders along, and they never stopped chanting---even while they were dodging laser blasts with back flips.

"So, which one of us takes them?" Suezo asked.

"Might as well be me," Gary answered. "Jolteon, Gyarados, go!" His two pokémon jumped out of their pokéballs. "Gyarados, hyper beam!"

"Not a beam attack!" Moochi shouted---but he was too late. The beam was absorbed into the target luftwaffle's solar panel.

The luftwaffle decided to show its heartfelt thanks for that energy boost: "Yon Yore Dar!" It used the extra energy it absorbed in this attack, and it made Gyarados flinch.

"Aw, nuts! Anything else I should know?"

His cheerleaders answered, "♪♫If our fight comes to a halt, it will be Suezo and Moochi's fault! Gary, Gary, getting greater, he says to these 'I'll smell you later!' ♫" …And the funny thing about this chant was that it was done while the cheerleaders were being fired upon.

Suezo's mouth dropped open. "_How_ can people stand to be around this blowhard?!"

"They might not be able to, chi."

"Jolteon, use thunder!" Jolteon filled the street with bolts of electricity, and the luftwaffles' engines overloaded. They fell to the ground and smashed.

The now ash-covered and incinerated cheerleaders croaked, "♪♫Gary is quite far from lame, but Jolteon has quite poor aim! ♫"

"…Well, they're good at making up songs on the fly," Suezo muttered.

"Chi," Moochi agreed.

"Listen," Suezo said out loud, "Should we get into hiding so that this won't happen again?"

The cheerleaders immediately packed themselves into an alleyway and hid behind a dumpster.

"Yeah, maybe," Gary thought out loud.

The girls let out a loud scream and packed out of the alleyway.

"What is it _now_?!" Suezo asked.

"There's a _rat_ in there!!" the cheerleaders whimpered.

"Yuck! There are better hiding places than _ that _for us!" Gary muttered.

"If you guys want to get yourselves killed by sticking around out here, I say more power to you!" Suezo muttered, hopping into the alley.

"That's not very nice, Suezo!" Moochi shot back, following him and watching Gary and his cheerleaders go off in another direction to find a hiding place.

After a minute or so, Gary and the cheerleaders ran back into the alley. "We thought it over, and maybe this isn't so bad, after all."

"So, in other words, you just ran into another load of luftwaffles and all your pokémon are exhausted from fighting them?"

"Right."

There was a short pause.

"…Do you realize that you just blew the mission, chi?"

"What?"

"We were supposed to go out and fight those mushroom-things that are making more menace machines, chi! Without your pokémon, we might not be able to fight them!"

"♪♫Since our fight came to a halt, it is Suezo and Moochi's fault! ♪"

Suezo frowned. "Whose idea was it to go into this hiding? And what would've happened if you had come in here in the first place?"

Gary gulped. He felt a sense of guilt, loneliness, and smallness coming up from his stomach.

His cheerleaders shouted louder,

"♪♫Since our fight came to a halt, it is Suezo and Moochi's fault! ♪"

Suezo rolled his eye. "Look, once the sun stops shining, let's just get back to base before something else happens."

Moochi cut in, "And we told you that---"

Suezo cut him off. "Hold your horses, Moochi: arguing with them isn't going to get us anywhere. They're stuck-up, self-worshipping blowhards. They will never stop arguing with you, because they think they're the smartest people on Earth. Believe me; I'm older than you, and I've seen this type. Don't argue with them."

"Chi…" Moochi sighed.

"It's not like we need to justify ourselves to _them_, or anything. It's Yolei we need to explain this to, and she's a lot more likely to believe the truth about what happened here than they are."

"And they were here and saw what happened, and they _still_ won't believe it was their fault?" Moochi thought aloud.

"Yep. Remind me not to get conceited; it makes you stupid," Suezo muttered as he looked at Gary, who was doing various muscle flexes for his cheerleaders to praise.

******

"They have made a preliminary shipment of silica away from here, sub-major."

"Did they meet any resistance?"

"No, sir."

"Excellent. Then our next plan of attack should prove interesting. Is the machine ready?"

"It is, sub-major. But…if I may be so bold as to inquire why you had the primary controls scaled up to thirty-two times length?"

"Our pilot will not be a Linonian."


	21. Chapter 20: Asperation

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 20: Aspiration

"There's only one way I know of to translate Linonian languages," Yolei thought aloud. "Ash, I take it you've met Tina?"

"I think so. She's your sister?"

"My daughter, actually."

"Whoa. …How would she know anything about Linonian?"

"_She_ doesn't. Her---I guess you could call him her pet---knows about them. She found him outside our house a few months ago, and he had a datacube with him. We have his datacube, but we don't have a computer to read it with."

"I see…but how would her pet know Linonian?"

"He's not a digimon, he's not a pokémon, and he's not a Monster---or a menace machine, either. He says his race has been fighting the Linonians for decades, and he seems to know some of their language and the real names of some of their menace machines."

"…Okay. We'll play the tape for him and see what he thinks."

Joey listened to the camera's playback through the earphones. It was more difficult for him to hear, considering that the earphones were about four times the size of his ears, but he was able to listen and decode most of what they were saying. "Joey hears that they picking up _ kamnalatato_."

"What's _kamnalatato_?" Tina asked.

"Maybe he means sand," Ash suggested.

"Joey not know word for 'sand'."

Ash thought for a moment, then took off his shoe and shook out a small pile for Joey to look at. Joey immediately began jumping and whistling excitedly, dancing around the pile.

"What's got you so excited?" Tina asked, picking Joey up.

"We're richy! We're richy-richy-rich!"

"We…_are_?" Tina asked.

"This stuff _kamnalatato_! This stuff make people richy-richy-rich!"

"Uh-huh…we have a lot of this stuff on our planet. It hasn't made very many people _here_ rich," Tina said.

"Lots??!" Joey asked. "There **_lotsa_** _kamnalatato_ on this world???"

"…Yeah…"

Joey paused for a minute to think. "Joey no wonder why Linonians try take over. Want get richy-richy-rich."

"How does sand make people rich?" Misty asked.

"There not any _kamnalatao_ **_anyplace_ **but here!" Joey answered. "Almost none!"

"…You're saying that Earth has some kind of rare element, and it's like a gold mine to the Linonian Empire?"

"Yep-yep!"

"Then…well, now we know what they're doing here, don't we?"

"Yep-yep. Joey want go back in Tina's pocket, now. Got cold."

"Okee-dokee," Tina answered, kneeling and opening her overalls pocket. "In you go."

"Thanks." Joey hopped in and snapped the pocket shut.

"He lives in your pocket?" Misty asked.

"Yeah. He gets too cold if he doesn't; room temperature is actually pretty cold to him. I don't know why."

Ash sighed. "So…they're attacking because Earth is a gold mine…so what do we do now?"

"Good question," Tina sighed.

******

"So…this thing is supposed to secure the island?"

"It is, indeed."

"What _exactly_ is it?"

"It is a tor, and yet you are able to take control of its systems as you see fit."

"So…it's like some kind of smart vehicle?"

"Put basically, yes."

"I see…how long before we secure the whole island?"

"Once they are all in place."

"…The word 'they' referring to…?"

******

"At least it's not raining," June sighed as she fluffed up her sweater. "Yep…snow is better than rain any day of the week…"

Tina stretched her arms and sighed. "Well, I dunno…but you can't do this with rain, can you?" she asked, making a snowball.

"You throw that thing, and you will die. I am serious!" June shouted.

"Okay, okay! You don't have to yell at me!" Tina sighed, dropping the snowball. "What is it with you and fun, anyways?"

"I could ask you the same thing: there's isn't _much_ fun in these little outings of ours, but _you_ take all the fun out them!"

"Well, now…uh, June?"

"What?"

"Youngdramon, it's not that I---" Tina's sentence trailed off as Youngdramon bombed June from the air with a specially-constructed snowball that dumped a huge amount of snow onto June.

June let out a loud scream. "I am going to pull your scales out!" June yelled at Youngdramon.

"Oh, are you?" Youngdramon asked.

"Yes, I am! You come down from there right now!!!"

Youngdramon had no intention of landing. She flew a little ways away from June, and June kept running after her, shouting threats up at her. She kept in flight until she saw a purple obelisk standing in the middle of a street corner. _That's handy!_ she thought to herself as she landed on the pyramid-like top.

"You come down from there, you troublemaker!" June yelled up to Youngdramon.

"Oh, sure, oh sure! Like I'd be dumb enough to walk straight into…danger…" Youngdramon stopped talking as she realized she was hearing a charging-up noise behind her. "Whoa, boy! _This obelisk is a menace machine_!" she shouted as she flew down, just in the nick of time to avoid a purple laser blast. "So…which one of us takes this guy?" Youngdramon asked.

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Obelaser (Tāwā)  
Real Name: Sawei-tor-yonazig  
Caste: Jolii Var'ka  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
Ota V'ver  
Qarosh-fla  
Comments:  
The obelaser is two things: it is a heavily modified barnucle, and it is a steal on Ken's control spires. It taps into the Dark Ocean universe's zero-point energy and, with some of Ken's old software, it creates a purple spire that absorbs energy that would otherwise be used in digivolution. The purple spire is about 40% as tall as the original dark spires, but it is more difficult to destroy, in that the obelaser--sitting on top of the spire--will repair any damage to the spire and has ultimate-level firepower. 

"You and Tina take it," June suggested. (Her ulterior motive was to get Youngdramon weak, and then start yanking scales off her back.)

"Done! **Youngdramon, digivolve to…** ---uh, I'm not Ikudramon, am I?"

"Let's try again," Tina said.

"**Youngdramon digivolve to…** ---Still not working!!!"

"Let _us_ try, then!" Tibemon grunted. "**Tibemon, digivolve to…** ---it's not working for me, either!"

"Okay, this is bad," Tina thought aloud as she heard the obelisk charging up for another laser blast. The four of them dodged out of the way as the attack sliced a hole in the pavement.

"That thing has the firepower of an ultimate!" June cried. "And our digimon can't make it past the rookie level!"

"Then…wait, there's one thing we haven't tried, yet!" Tina said.

"What's that?"

"You'll see," Tina answered, switching from her normal brown beret into her yellow rainhat so that she'd match her partner digimon. "**Digi-armor, energize!**"

"**Youngdramon, armor-digivolve to…Gryllotamon, the tunnel of adventure!**"

"Whoa…that was quick thinking!" June said. _ At least Youngdramon will be weak enough so that I'll be able to get her,_ June thought silently.

"And now, to take that thing out…Laser Mandible!" Gryllotamon shot the obelisk, and cracks started forming in it. Just as Tina was letting out a whoop of victory, the cracks sealed themselves as the obelisk used a self-healing attack.

"What??!!" June said, jaw down.

"Okay, let's try this again…Laser Mandible!" Gryllotamon shot the obelisk several times, and the obelisk crumbled to bits. The pyramid-shaped menace machine at the top tumbled to the ground, but it landed upright. "All right, _that_ looked like it worked!" Gryllotamon sighed.

It hadn't: the pyramid seemed to grow a new purple obelisk beneath its base, and it rose into the air, just as high as before.

Tina groaned. "These things just don't want to give up, do they?"

"Should Kangamon join in?" June asked, brandishing the digi-egg of perseverance.

"Not until we see if there isn't a way for Gryllotamon to beat that thing," Tina answered.

"If you have any ideas, I'd like to hear them," Gryllotamon yelled, dodging another laser blast.

"That pyramid up top seems to be the one causing all the fuss," Tina suggested. "Try attacking that thing with your shot-range attacks!"

"If you say so…"

"Wait until it's charging! That'll give you an opening!" Tina shouted after her.

Gryllotamon waited for it to shoot off its laser, and then she dove in and smacked the pyramid with her glowing mandibles. The purple stone of the obelisk burst into data fragments, and the pyramid fell to the ground in pieces.

"That worked," Gryllotamon sighed as she regressed back to Youngdramon.

"So…what now?" June asked. "I'd really like to get back to base and warm up!"

"Might as well. Another menace machine to catalogue…"

"But there's one thing I need to do first."

"What's that?"

June reached for Youngdramon's back and pulled a scale out. As Youngdramon was groaning in pain, June stuffed a handful of snow into the open spot. "Oo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Youngdramon shuddered.

"You were saying about me and fun?" June asked.

"_Can we get back to base, now, and warm up_?" Youngdramon asked in a whispered, scratchy voice.

******

"An obelisk?" Ken asked.

"Yeah. June, Tibemon, Youngdramon, and I all saw it."

"Four sides, you said?" Tracy asked as he continued his sketch.

"Yes, four sides, and it looked like the Washington Monument, except that it was way shorter, and it was purple instead of pale gray. And its top was made of metal, with a laser gun at the point."

"Sounds to me like the tops' a _lot _like this one menace machine we found in the water. Except that one was a three-sided pyramid, not four-sided. And the water machine shot orange lasers, not purple, and it had a lot less firepower than what you're describing."

"Oh, yeah, there was one other thing I should mention---"

"Here it is," Tracy declared, turning over his sketchpad.

Tina nodded. "That's the thing we saw. And the other thing is that it didn't stop armor digivolution, but it stopped normal evolution to the champion level cold…uh, Dad? Why do you look so shocked?"

Ken was breathing heavily, and his face was a little pale. "I have to speak with your mother, Tina. This---*_cough!_*---this war just got worse!"

"Dad---Daddy, what is it?" she asked after her father as he walked away.

"It's a dark spire!"

"A dark spire?? What're you---" but he was already out of hearing distance.

"You have any idea what he's talking about?" Tracy asked.

"Uh-uh. …And I'm not sure I want to get an idea, either," Tina added. She gave him a little more information about the obelisk and then she climbed back up to the surface and walked back into the building.

She found Rika next to her bedroll, sulking as usual. "What's got you so down?" Tina asked.

"Oh, just the mysteries of life. Like, 'why does stuff go wrong?' 'why is my life a mess?'"

"Stuff goes wrong because people went wrong."

"What??"

"The first people who ever existed made a few bad choices, and that affected everybody who came after. So everybody makes bad choices…even me. There's no escaping it---well, _almost_ no escaping it."

"Are we just talking hypothetically, here?"

"No, we're not."

"…Is this more stuff about your God?" Rika asked. She didn't sound as annoyed as she usually was.

"Not really---well, actually, it is."

"You were just talking like there's a way to escape making bad choices…what is it?"

"…I don't understand all of it, myself. Basically, Jesus changed the way everything works when He died. One thing he did was He kind of gave some of His characteristics to everybody else---assuming you accept His offers. And perfection is one of his characteristics. You aren't perfect right away, and you don't get perfect until after you're dead, but still…"

"Then…I can be perfect?" Rika asked.

"Well, sort of…yeah."

"And…all I have to do is accept it?"

"Yeah."

"…How _exactly_ do I accept it? Do I need to go on some spirit trip and find some spirit office to file my acceptance---uh, why are you looking at me like I'm crazy?"

"Spirit trip?? Where did you get an idea like that?"

"I heard on this one cartoon show that these Native American witch-doctors went on spirit trips all the time for predicting the future, and stuff."

Tina rolled her eyes. "A cartoon isn't the best source of information for your soul's ultimate destiny."

"…Well, when you put it _that_ way…"

"The way you accept it is you tell Him you accept it."

"…And I don't need a spirit trip to do that?"

"Not at all. You don't have to _go_ anywhere, either; He's right here."

"…_Here_???"

"Yes."

"…Here _now_??"

"Yes, here now. He's everywhere at all times!"

"…So, what do I do? I just say things out of my mouth, and He hears it?"

"That's called prayer. And He'll hear it."

Rika gulped. She looked up into the air. "So…here I am…Jesus?"


	22. Chapter 21: Terror Revealed

Chapter 21: Terror Revealed

"You can't tell me that _this_ thing is a dark spire?!" Takato asked as he and Gary looked it over.

"It's a menace machine, whatever it is," Gary answered. "And that means I can catch it! Pokéball, go!" Gary hurled one of his empty pokéballs at the obelaser, and it disappeared in a flash of red light. "See? Nothing to it!"

"And that reminds me," Takato added, "Cleaver made a device that lets you destroy machines you've caught in those pokéballs. Only problem is that he had the device at the time we got separated. So…we don't know where it is, right now."

"So I have to lug this thing around in my pokéball until we find him and get it back?"

"Basically."

"Great. You _do_ know that I'm going to run out of empties eventually, right?"

"I know. But let's use what we can _while_ we can, okay?"

"All right," Gary sighed. He picked up his newly caught obelaser. "What do I do with this one in the meantime?"

"Give it to Tracy. He's another pokémon trainer, and he's the only guy left from our cataloguing staff."

"And what can he do with it?"

"Nothing for now. But he'll be able to use it later, assuming we an find Cleaver and the others back…" Takato sighed heavily.

"What's got you down?"

"Just that…Henry was with them."

"Henry?"

"He's a friend of mine, and…my best friend. I don't know where he is or how he's doing."

"Hmm…well, I know what my next door neighbor is doing and where he is," Gary said.

"Lucky. I bet my mom and dad are missing me a lot."

"Probably. So…do we get back to base, or do we---!!" Gary stopped as he saw a figure approaching. "Who's that??!!"

"That's Silphymon! That thing is a digi-clone, a creature that the Linonians made up using some DNA from the digimon native to this planet!"

"I'll see what my pokéballs do to her!" Gary pulled out another empty pokéball and hurled it at Silphymon. It dodged the ball.

"What was that supposed to do?" it asked.

"It was supposed to hit you and catch you," Gary shot back. "Arcanine, I choose you!" Gary shouted, throwing out Arcanine's pokéball. "Arcanine, use Fire Blast on that thing!"

Silphymon pulled a flower out of its hair. "Lily umbrage!" it shouted, growing the flower into a shield. The shield deflected the blast, but the fire tore the shield to shreds.

"See how that went?" Gary sneered. "Arcanine, Take Down!"

"Astro laser!" Silphymon shouted, smacking Arcanine with a green beam of light.

"Let me handle this! **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Guilmon, digivolve to…Growlmon!**"

"And now…**Digi-modify! Upgrade, activate!**"

Growlmon felt his firepower increase, and he shot a stream of fire at Silphymon.

"Help him out, Arcanine! Flamethrower!" The combined fire attacks forced Silphymon to retreat, damaged and barely keeping in its ultimate form.

"Do we see where it's running to?" Gary asked.

"We already know where their base is. It's south of here, on one of the uninhabited islands."

"But it's not heading south!" Gary pointed out.

"…Okay, then we should follow it. Climb on Growlmon's back."

"Arcanine, return! …I should tell you that I've never ridden a dinosaur before."

"That's okay. C'mon up."

The three of them followed Silphymon's retreat. Takato had a blue card ready to swipe in case anything went wrong. And something _did_ go wrong: Silphymon entered what looked like an armed building that someone had constructed in the middle of the street. "Do we go in after her?" Gary asked, clutching a pokéball and climbing off Growlmon's back.

"It could be a trap," Takato cautioned, jumping off next to him. "We need to---uh-oh!"

One of the building's turrets fired a blast of red energy at Growlmon. Growlmon was hurled backwards and regressed back to Guilmon.

"Okay, not good!" Takato thought aloud. A trapdoor opened on the building's right side, and a group of slagsters came rolling out. "Okay, _more_ not good!" Takato thought again. "Got any pokémon that'll help for a fast getaway?"

"As a matter of fact…Gyarados, I choose you!" Gary, Takato, and a wounded Guilmon climbed onto Gyarados's back, and Gyarados flew away at top speed.

"Uh, Gary…should we be worried that they're following us?"

"Not really. They throw lava out their hands, and that's basically a fire attack. Fire attacks don't affect Gyarados much."

"That's good, but I'd still feel more comfortable knowing that they weren't tagging along."

"If you insist…Fearow, I choose you!" Fearow flew behind the slagsters and fired a few blasts of light at them. They didn't last.

"Wow…what was that?"

"Just my fearow. I used a TM and taught it the attack called 'Sky Attack'. That lets it shoot out those copies of itself made of pure energy, and those really hurt its opponents."

"That went really well, I guess," Takato sighed. "I sure wish that I could use a TM and teach Guilmon a few new tricks."

"Aren't your mod-cards enough?" Guilmon croaked, still nursing his wounds.

"The more tricks we know, the better, boy."

"Okay."

"One question, though…what was that building we just left behind?"

"It was probably one of their smaller bases. We should have someone take it out."

"Good idea."

******

"You know, I'm starting to see something," Suezo thought aloud as he, Yolei, Kari, Tina, June, Ash, and Misty flew towards the Linonian base on Cygnusmon's back.

"What do you see? You can't have very good depth perception with just one eye," Misty pointed out.

"Thanks a bunch," Suezo shot back. "What I'm starting to see is that it's kind of a good thing that us Monsters and pokémon don't have much along the line of transformations."

"Why's that?" Ash asked. "I'd love it if Pikachu could evolve up to something big."

"Ka _chu_!" Pikachu spat.

"Not that I don't like you the way you are," Ash added as he scratched Pikachu's ear. "But why do you think it's a good thing we don't, Suezo?"

"Because nobody can stop them if they don't exist."

"Oh…well, that is good, then."

"Just get ready to module-evolve, Suezo," Yolei cautioned. "We're going to need all the help we can get if Takato's report was accurate."

"I plan to do some tail-whipping," Suezo answered with a grin. "It's the only time in my life when I ever had arms! …And long-range, damaging special attacks!" He let out a euphoric sigh.

"You'll be back in action once we get there," Yolei said, brandishing the digi-egg of sincerity.

"So…where is this building, anyways?" Suezo asked.

"Takato said the corner of Walker and Thirty-first…so, how come there's nothing here but a control spire?"

"Ota H'vekk!" A blast of purple light flew out from the obelaser.

"Great…well, Ash, it's been nice knowing you, but---"

"We're not dying today, Misty!" Ash shouted.

"Laser Cannon!" Cygnusmon shouted back. One of her three cannons glowed and fired back at the point of the obelaser. The obelaser burst into data fragments.

"That was easy enough," Tina sighed, setting her digivice to detect-mode. "I wonder if---hello! Orange blips at ten o'clock!" Tina pointed. Yolei and Kari pulled out their digivices and looked at the screens.

"I'm getting them, too," Kari said.

"Me three," Yolei added.

"But there's just one thing…this batch is moving. The ones we found with that unfairy-ring never moved."

Yolei shook her head. "Then it looks like we have a problem on our hands…probably a new menace machine."

"Let's find it and finish it, already!" Tina yelled.

"After it, Cygnusmon!" Yolei shouted.

"I'm on it," she answered. They rounded the last corner before they were on the same street as the new machine, and there it was: Obelimn, a huge, tank-like menace machine. It looked kind of like an egg or a mollusk of some kind; it had a crevasse running all the way through its middle, and an arm rested in the crevasse.

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Obelimn (Ōberīman)  
Real Name: Sawei-tor-lelwawo  
Caste: N/A  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
Atat lel Yonota  
Gazrii Dar Non  
Comments:  
The obelimn is a super-tor with heavy armor that stands a class above a Black Box. It is well-armed and well-manned with many crony menace machines. And as if that wasn't enough, its primary function is to serve as an obelimn factory; it moves about, literally pounding out obelimns with its main arm to block digivolution and serve as sentries. 

"That's what we're looking for?" Yolei asked.

"Looks like it," Kari answered.

They watched wide-eyed as the Obelimn's arm pounded the ground, and, where the arm hit the ground, a new control spire emerged.

"WHAT?!?!" Yolei asked, gaping. "That thing makes control spires?"

"That makes this mission all the more vital. I just hope this factory is the only one!" Kari shouted.

"And here comes our welcoming committee!" Tina mused, looking down at the slagsters that were pouring out of the back of the Obelimn.

"Oh, it gets better!" June added as she saw Shakkoumon evolve out of the back, as well.

"Time for action, Suezo!" Yolei said.

"That's what I like to hear! **Suezo, module-evolve to…** ---huh? I can't module evolve!" he spat, disgusted.

"Then the control spires stop module-evolution, too?" June asked.

"Not for long," Cygnusmon shouted back. "Tempest torpedo!" She fired a missile at the obelaser, and it burst into data fragments.

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass!** Ash, Misty, grab ahold!"

"What do we do to get down there?" June asked.

"You ride me," Youngdramon explained. "And, June, you get to ride on the spot where you tore out my scales! **Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

June and Tina jumped on Ikudramon's back. As they flew down, Yolei shouted to her daughter, "Be careful…that's an order!"

"I love you, too, Mom!" Tina shouted back. They landed, and they began their assault.

"Pidgeot, Snorlax, Heracross, Primape! I choose you!" Ash shouted.

"Staryu, Starmie, Golduck, I choose you!" Misty yelled.

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"So…which one of us takes the big one?" Suezo asked, looking at Shakkoumon.

"We'll take him! ** Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**"

"Heracross, Primape, Pidgeot! You handle the ones on the ground! Snorlax, take pot-shots at the big one!"

"You handle the slagsters too, Starmie and Staryu! Golduck, try and help out Snorlax and Mermon with Hyper beam!"

"Blossom Blade!" Saw-grass shouted, spitting sharp blasts of metal out at the slagsters. Looking at how his attack was doing and how the other's strategies were paying off, he though aloud, "This is just too easy; there has _got_ to be a catch coming up---"

"Harmonious Spirit!" Shakkoumon shouted, firing a pair of energy beams out at the fighters.

"Mer Poleax!" Mermon answered, reflecting one of the two beams away. The other beam narrowly missed Saw-grass.

"Will you take that thing out, already?" Saw-grass begged.

"You think we aren't trying?" Mermon answered. "Destructor torpedo!"

"Snorlax, Hyper Beam!"

"Golduck, Hydro Pump!"

The three attacks flew at Shakkoumon.

"Data Vacuum!" it answered, letting its yin yang shaped port open up and suck in the three attacks.

"Okay, not good, I'll admit---Blossom Blade!" Saw-grass interrupted himself.

"There has to be some way to get him!" June cried.

"Mermon, try reflecting its own attacks right back in its face!" Tina suggested.

"Fine, then! Come on, big fella! Gimme your best shot!" Mermon said, dancing in front of its face.

"Harmonious Spirit!"

"Mer Poleax!" She reflected the two beams back in Shakkoumon's direction, but it sucked those two attacks right back into its port.

"This just _isn't working_!!!" June complained, shrinking back towards the ever-clustering group of humans.

"I know," Tina agreed. "If only we knew Shakkoumon's weakness…!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Now, the plot is starting to move! I'm hoping that Protocol Omega won't be as long at Arrival or Operation: Salvage Earth.

What do you think of Obelimn? I came up with that name while looking through the dictionary for words that start "li…" because I wanted to hook that up to "obe…" and make a word similar to "obelisk". I found the word "limn" that meant something like draw, and it dawned on me: that was the perfect thing for the machine that makes these control spires!

So…how do you like the way this plot is going? Let me know; I want to hear from you people! I worked my back off for months to get this far; I want to hear some feedback!!!


	23. Chapter 22: Getting In There

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 22: Getting In There

"So how do we deal with this thing?" Mermon asked.

Tina yelled up to her, "It can only hold out in this fight for so long! And its human friend isn't around to help it out, so it might go down before you think! Just keep it busy!"

"Cochina Bombs!" Shakkoumon shouted. Mermon dodged the disc and fired another torpedo at Shakkoumon. It sucked the attack into its belly.

"This really isn't getting us anywhere," Saw-Grass yelled, slicing through another slagster. "That thing needs to go down-and out before we do! These wheely-things are winning! They've got us scrunched into a little circle, here!"

"Not for long; Misty and I still have a few tricks up our sleeves," Ash shouted.

Misty agreed, "I have one thing. It'll probably kill us, but that's okay…"

"Misty, what on Earth are you talking about?"

"I'll give it a try," she sighed. "Togetic, go!"

"Togetic? What can he do?"

"You'll see. Togetic, metronome!" Togetic waved his arms, and a whirlwind started up. The slagsters were distracted just trying to keep their footing. They were sitting ducks for the pokémon's and Saw-Grass's attacks.

"Great work, all of you. Primape, return! Pidgeot, Heracross! Join Snorlax in fighting that big statue-thing!"

"Starmie, Staryu, Togetic, return!" Misty shouted. "Okay, Golduck! Try confusion!" Golduck's attack barely affected Shakkoumon. "Okay, that didn't work much…"

"Harmonious spirit!" Shakkoumon shouted, firing a pair of lasers out its eyes. The shots missed.

"Pidgeot, mirror move!" Pidgeot fired another two beams back at Shakkoumon, but the attacks were sucked into its port.

"Golduck, try a short-range move! Fury Swipes!" Golduck ran in for a slash, but Shakkoumon saw it coming.

"Extension claw!" Its arms stretched out at Golduck and tried to spear him before he could attack. Golduck was pinned down. Misty called him back quickly before he took any more damage.

"Heracross, try to get it from behind! Use tackle!" Heracross flew in for an attack run, but didn't get what he bargained for: Shakkoumon turned its head all the way around and gave Heracross so much AA fire that he had to veer off.

"Great! There must be some way we can beat that thing!" Saw-Grass muttered.

Shakkoumon looked at Saw-Grass. "Harmonious spirit!" it shouted, firing its laser beams at Saw-Grass. Saw-Grass moved his blades between himself and the beams to reflect them away, but he didn't bother to look at where they would reflect: one of the two beams smacked Mermon in the back and sent her flying straight towards Shakkoumon.

As Mermon shook off the blow she realized where she was: the middle of Shakkoumon's chest. "Oh, boy! I'm gonna get filleted, I know it!" she mewed. Shakkoumon reached for her, and she covered her face. _THUNK!_ …_Thunk-thunk-thunk!_

Mermon peeked between her fingers. She realized that Shakkoumon couldn't reach her: it didn't have any elbows! All it could do was to move its arms at the shoulders, and that meant it wasn't flexible enough to get at her. The situation got better: Shakkoumon didn't have a neck, either, so it couldn't look down at Mermon and hit her with its Harmonious Spirit attack. Shakkoumon couldn't see what she was doing, and, in fact, its only indication that she was still there was the fact that it could hear her down there, laughing.

Shakkoumon felt a little ill at ease as it heard some clicking noises coming from her direction. It could feel her doing _something_ down there, but it had no clue what. It tried to use its Data Vacuum attack to get rid of her, bit it was no use: there were so many nooks and crannies on its chest that she was able to keep enough of a grip on him to avoid getting sucked in.

"That does it!" Shakkoumon shouted. It was so ticked off that it was willing to risk hitting itself to get rid of her. "Cochina Bombs!" It fired several disc bombs out the port in its belly, and the discs went flying out and boomeranged backwards at its chest. It barely saw Mermon slip out right under its nose (literally) and didn't have enough time to shoot her with its eye lasers. The discs flew into its chest and created a much bigger explosion than it had bet on: Mermon had taken a few of her Destructor Torpedoes out of her axe, and she had been putting them on Shakkoumon's chest, hoping to detonate them later. (That explained the clicking noises Shakkoumon had heard.) That was the last thing Shakkoumon knew: its head came off and shot into the air. Its hands also shot off, and it fell forwards, dead.

They let out whoops of victory as the digimon fell…but it didn't burst into data fragments. "What's the deal? You said digimon disintegrate when they die!" Ash shouted. "Isn't this one dead?"

Tina thought for a moment. "If we hadn't destroyed it, it would've gone back down to Darkpatamon and Pangolimon. It's dead, all right."

"Then it must be a different kind of digimon…?"

"I'll have to explain this to Mom, whenever she gets back…speaking of, I wonder how she's doing against that big base-thingy?"

"Speak of the devil!" June said as a battered Quadrigamon drove around the corner of the street, with Kari and Yolei riding on her back.

Mermon flew down to help Quadrigamon as she regressed back to Gatomon. "What happened?" she asked.

"Not much. Just that that machine nearly destroyed us!!"

"I can see that. What's the deal?"

"It had way more firepower than we figured on," Kari answered. "We're going to need megas to deal with this thing! And they had Imperialdramon's clone with them, too!"

"Who?"

"We never got his name," Yolei answered with a sigh. She held up Hawkmon, who was a very injured-looking digimon. "We need to get her to see Joe."

"Aw, great!" Ash sighed. "So…what do we do now?"

"We head back to base. Everyone take a different route. June and Tina, go with Mermon. Kari and I are with Saw-Grass, and Ash and Misty---you have your own way of getting back, right?"

Ash let Charizard out of his pokéball. "Feel up to a little challenge, Charizard?" Ash asked. Charizard let out a roar of defiance. "Good. Misty and I ride you home!"

"Let's get moving," Yolei sighed.

As they flew home, Charizard flew alongside Mermon for a while before veering off and picking a different route. As they flew, Misty said, "Ash…I'm starting to get worried."

"What about?"

"That we aren't going to win this war."

"Don't be silly," Tina shot back. "There are only two ways for us to lose: they either kill us all, or we surrender. Which of those two sounds likely to you?"

"Both," Misty sobbed.

Tina gulped. Knowing Youngdramon's personality, she whispered into Mermon's ear, "Don't take advantage of the situation by teasing her." Turning back to Misty, she said, "There's no way they can kill all of us if they can't find us, and they haven't found us yet, have they?"

"But I---it's---I---" Misty couldn't put her emotions into words, so all she could do was break into tears.

Tina did something she hadn't done before. She said in her mind, "God, this girl has a problem. Do you have a solution?" (Tina didn't even know she was doing this; she just said it.)

And the answer came: "I have a plan, but it's on My time, not yours. She will get better. Invite her to Cody's service tomorrow night."

This shocked Tina: _she_ didn't go to Cody's services. And…_God had said something, **to her**_!!! That scared her, but she said to Misty, "You…um...I don't mean to butt in to something that's not my business, but you look like you could use professional help. People in the clergy usually have training in this kind of thing, and I know a priest. Maybe you talk to him---or maybe you should hear his sermon tomorrow might; you'll find it soothing."

Misty didn't take her hands away from her face, or seem to answer in any way. Tina thought to herself, _I blew it, didn't I_?

"I think we ought to part ways at the next intersection, in case anybody's following us," June cut in.

Ash said, "Turn left, Charizard…I'll guide you through the rest of the way back home." As Charizard rounded the turn, he said, "I think Tina's right: you need help, Misty. I'm here for you, but that's not enough. C'mon…_please_?"

Misty sobbed, "I feel like there's nothing left for me."

"Somebody just offered you something!"

"But I---…" Misty sobbed again.

"What's the harm in trying?" Ash asked.

Misty leaned on Ash's shoulder and cried into it. "Ever since we got here, it's been nothing but hurting!" Misty sniffled. "How will this be different?"

"Am I some kind of hurting, too, Misty? If I'm different from the rest of the world, maybe this can be, too. Misty, _I'm_ going to be there for the sermon. And I want you to come, too. What do you have to lose?"

"…Okay," Misty sighed, wiping the tears from her face.

******

Misty walked out of the makeshift sanctuary with a confused, though somewhat relieved look on her face.

"So, Misty…any better?" Ash asked.

"I don't know…" Misty sighed. "Ash, I just feel like going to bed, right now."

"Okay, then," Ash answered.

"But I don't have a bed to sleep in…they talked me into giving up my sleeping bag for their infirmary," Misty sadly murmured.

"There's a solution to that," Ash interrupted. "I'll show you. C'mon upstairs." They started climbing the manhole, and they found out that it was a lot more difficult to get to the top than they'd counted on: halfway up, they saw someone coming down. They got into an argument over who had to turn around and go back so the other could pass, and Ash and Misty ended up returning to the bottom so that the others could get through. Ash shouted up to the top, "Anyone coming down?" There was no answer. "Okay, because I'm coming up!" Again, there was no answer. Ash and Misty climbed up again. "That was annoying," Ash sighed.

"Yeah…annoying…" Misty answered quietly.

"Misty, you don't need to be glum 24/7."

Misty sighed. "Ash…"

"I know how you feel, Misty. Don't worry. We'll be okay. That was the whole point of Cody's sermon. Why are you always so scared and so sad?"

"I don't know, Ash. All I know is that I can't stop worrying, and I can't stop feeling like we're all going to die."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are you afraid will happen after you die?"

"…I didn't think anything happens then. What do _you_ think happens?"

"Tina told me that you sit in front of God, you give an account of your life, and then you get judged."

"Judged…what if you don't get first prize?"

"Not _that_ kind of judged, the other kind!"

"You mean…like a criminal case? What have I _ done_?? What crime is there to talk about?"

"I don't know…Tina said that everyone's done _ something_, or something like that."

"If everyone did something, then isn't everyone doomed?"

"I don't know…Tina said not."

"Are you sure all this is true?"

"Yes, I am. Tina wouldn't lie about something like that. Everything else, maybe. But not this."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because she wouldn't be able to pull a prank on us in the afterlife!"

Misty giggled. They had momentarily run out of things to say, so there was a brief silence. Then, Misty asked, "---Hey, how long is this ladder, anyway?"

"Well, _too_ long," Ash answered. "And…_hey_!" he shouted, looking up at the top. "We're coming up, here!"

"Well, I'm coming down!"

"We've been coming up for the last two minutes! You're closer to your end!"

"You kids have no respect for your elders!"

"It's not that I'm trying to disrespect you, but we've had a rough day, and---hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm coming down, whether you're moving out of the way or not!"

"But you're…" Ash let out a grunt of frustration, realizing that he wasn't going to change his mind.

"What do we do, Ash?" Misty asked.

"We stay here. There's no way he can get around us if we stay here. He'll have to get back up to the top."

"Ash, it's not such a great idea to make waves like this. I don't think that---"

"Hey watchit!" Ash shouted at the man came down the ladder straight at him. Ash slipped his hand out from under his foot. "Are you trying to kill me? ---Sorry for saying that, Misty--- Hey, what're you---_awh_!" Ash shouted as the man lost his grip and fell to the ground. He let out the screams of a dying man as he plummeted to the bottom of the shaft.

Misty gulped and shuddered, and almost felt like screaming, herself.

"Misty, come up here. We're…we're almost there."

"But…Ash…we just killed somebody!"

"It _was an accident!_ And if we let it get to us, the situation will just get worse."

Misty sobbed.

"Misty…don't think for a minute I don't wish that hadn't happened. But _he_ chose to break the rules, and that's what made him fall like that. Please, come up here."

"…Ash…if it wasn't you who was telling me this, then I'd let go and fall, myself…and I---whoa---!!!" Misty's hand touched a wet spot on the ladder, and she lost her grip.

"Bulbasaur, Chikorita, I choose you! Ash threw the pokéballs up to the top of the shaft. "Catch Misty!" he shouted up to his pokémon, and they reached down with their vines and pulled Misty up to the top. Ash picked her up out and saw that she'd fainted.

Ash let out a sigh of frustration and pity. He, Bulbasaur, and Chikorita carried her indoors, and they set her on the floor. Ash took off his jacket and rolled it into a ball to give her as a pillow. He called back Bulbasaur and Chikorita, and he let out Pidgeot. Pidgeot covered both of them with its wings as blankets, and Ash let his head rest on his own backpack. He looked at Misty, and her face was expressionless. If he didn't know that she was hurting inside, he wouldn't be able to guess how hurt she really was. He wished there was someone he could turn to so that he'd be able to get her help…


	24. Chapter 23: Round Two

Chapter 23: Round Two

"The last time we made an assault like this, we got creamed," Cygnusmon insisted.

"We're going to make it look like we're using the same tactics as the last time. Same digimon for the welcoming committee---different pokémon trainers, though---and we use the same attack plan---except that we add Gallantmon, Ironarchaeopteryxmon and Mole Sprite form to the list for our attack party."

"And…what if something goes wrong with us in the welcoming committee?" June asked.

"That's why you have an ace up your sleeve: Rika and Renamon."

"Huh?" They looked to their left, and Renamon was carrying Rika and jumping from building to building to keep up with Cygnusmon.

"I just hope that Rika will be able to pick up the warp-digivolving card after I use it," Takato cut in.

"Just make sure _you_ can use it," Yolei answered.

"I will, don't worry."

Cygnusmon fired a laser shot at the obelaser in front of them and destroyed it before it could fire. "We must be getting close," Cygnusmon thought aloud.

"We are," Yolei answered, looking at her digivice's radar. "Let's do our thing!"

"**Digi-modify!**** Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Guilmon, warp-digivolve to…Gallantmon!**" Takato threw down the warp-digivolving card. "It's all you now, Rika!"

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-Grass!**"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

Tina touched her digi-egg of adventure to Pixie. "**Pixie, module-evolve to…Mole Sprite!**"

"You be careful this time, Mom!" Tina shouted up to her mother.

"I will!" she yelled back as they parted company.

"All right, let's get this show on the road!" Tina shouted.

Looking down at the gorillouts that were racing out of the Obelimn's back door, Ikudramon added, "…And here comes the audience! Hopefully, this'll be a stunning performance! Dynamo blaster!" Her lightning shots barely fazed the gorillouts.

"Not yet, Ikudramon! We have some business to attend to, first!" Tibemon yelled back. "**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"Now! Let's do our thing!" June yelled.

"**Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**"

The gorillouts stopped and stood all in a row. "YoNon Gazrii!" they shouted, firing blue spheres of energy out at them.

"Mer poleax!"

"Roto-saw!"

Saw-Grass and Mermon reflected the shots away.

"They're coming in for short-range!" June yelled.

"That's a move they'll regret!" Brock shouted. "Graveler, Steelix! Go!"

Gary threw out some more pokéballs. "Machamp, Hitmonchan! Go!"

"Time to get this party started," Mermon shouted.

Renamon looked down from one of the rooftops. "Rika, this doesn't exactly look like the best of fights for them."

Rika nodded. "And I owe Tina one. We need to get the warp-digivolving card back and join in. But where did it go?"

"I think I see it," Renamon answered, looking at a golden-metallic gleam on the street. "There's only one problem: I don't see how we can get it; it's right in the middle of that fight!"

"There's a way I can think of," Rika thought aloud. "**Digi-modify!**** Hypersonic, activate!**" Renamon ran into the fight at top speed to get the card, and she picked it up…but before she could escape the fight, she was hit over the head with one of the gorillouts' huge, hammy fists. "Renamon!" Rika shouted down to her. There was no answer. Steelix pulled Renamon into the cluster of humans in the middle to keep her from getting more hurt.

"There is only one way to that card," Rika gulped. Unless---!!" She looked again, and she saw a metallic object go flying out of the fight, just to where the gorillouts' feet were. Rika slid down the downspout of the building, and she looked at the fight. She gulped: she knew that she risked getting killed if she jumped in to that fight. Looking up at the sky, she said to herself, "My soul is secured…here…I…_go_!" She ran at the fight with her head low. She couldn't avoid being seen by one of the gorillouts, and it made a shout of alarm to its friends. Rika snatched up the card and rolled away as one of the gorillouts' feet came slamming down on the spot where she had just been. She swiped it through her digivice without even saying a word.

"**Renamon, warp-digivolve to…Sablemon!**" Sablemon leapt up from the fight and unloaded shot after shot at the gorillouts, taking them out for the tired and injured group of heroes.

There was a problem, though: five of the gorillouts didn't go down before… "**Praze-tor-epio****!**** Noh kreshnaiona djom…Praze-tor-arliitu!"** The gorillouts combined into a giantor. "Yon YoNon Gazrii!" it shouted, firing a wave of energy at Sablemon. Sablemon fell to the ground and regressed back to Renamon.

This was _clearly_ not good. They needed someone to make it to the mega level; otherwise, that giantor would win. Tina thought hard, and she remembered how Archaeopteryxmon, a DNA digivolved digimon, unexpectedly had made it to the mega level. Nobody had seen that coming. For all they knew, it might happen again. Tina looked a June with a look that said, "Let's get going!!"

June had been thinking about the exact same thing, and she returned Tina's look with an expression that replied, "And let's _keep_ going!"

"**Mermon, mega-digivolve to…**"


	25. Chapter 24: DINGDINGDING!

Chapter 24: _Ding-ding-ding!!!_

"**Mermon, mega-digivolve to…WarMermon!**" WarMermon, like her ultimate form, had golden armor covering her chest. But she also had a steel retiarius's gauntlet covering her left arm, and her axe had a blade at each end of the pole. She looked up at the giantor. "So, if it's the digivolving game we're playing, then let's get this game started!"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" the giantor shouted at her, firing a wave of energy her way. Using her four, spherical thrusters, she dodged above the wave.

"This is your swan song, big guy! Vocal Blaster!" A green beam flew out of WarMermon's mouth, and a beautiful note sounded out from her throat, too. It was hard to label an emotion to that note, but it seemed to carry enough emotion to destroy anyone's heart. The giantor stumbled backwards from the blast.

"Finish that thing off, WarMermon!" June shouted.

"I was planning on just that. Rapid-Fire Torpedo!" WarMermon yelled, spinning her axe. Missiles flew out of the ends of her axe every time the axe was aimed at her opponent. Explosion after explosion smacked the giantor in the chest until it fell backwards. Then she raised her axe above her head and pounded it into the giantor's chest. It was finished.

"Whoa…what do we do now?" Saw-Grass asked.

"We see if the others need any assistance," WarMermon answered. "Let's get rolling!"

"Right behind you!" Saw-Grass shouted, jumping on Steelix's back as they rode after the Obelimn. "How you doing, Renamon?"

"I've felt better."

"I bet," Saw-Grass mused.

The Obelimn was right in front of them, and it began firing lasers at them the second it saw them.

"Mer Poleax!" WarMermon shouted as she reflected the beams back at the Obelimn. Unfortunately, the Obelimn was heavily armored, and the shots reflected right off the armor.

"Okay, that isn't very good," WarMermon thought aloud.

"Try your short-range attacks on its arm, WarMermon!" Tina yelled up to her.

"Mer poleax!" WarMermon repeatedly struck the arm, but she wasn't able to break it off before a shot from one of the Obelimn's mega cannons forced her away. "That didn't work, either!"

"There just _has_ to be some way to get this thing!"

"There are _four_ megas fighting it, and we still can't beat it!" WarMermon shouted to the others. "I think we need another strategy!"

"Uh…aim for the inside! Destroy those turrets under the backside and then try to open the garage-door thingy under its platform!" Tina suggested.

WarMermon slashed at the gun turrets under the Obelimn's back. The shots from them were only champion-level firepower, but the guns still had too much armor on them for WarMermon to destroy more than one of them. It took multiple hits from even her strongest attacks to destroy the one, and WarMermon felt more than a little angry about it. "This isn't working!" WarMermon groaned.

"See what the door is like!" June yelled. WarMermon quickly found out that the door was just as heavily armored as the rest of the Obelimn.

"Try shooting the windows!"

"Been there, done that!" Ironarchaeopteryxmon shouted.

"Then what's left to try?"

"I have one idea. But only one, and we can't do it now," Yolei shouted.

"What's that?" everyone else asked.

"Get back to base, and I'll explain it!"

As they were turning away, Tina shouted up to WarMermon, "Before we go, let's pick some mushrooms, shall we? Those mushrooms' necks can't be too strong."

WarMermon took the hint and slashed at the mushrooms inside the Obelimn's body. That stopped the Obelimn's spire-making operation, and forced it to return to its base for repairs, too.

WarMermon picked up Tina and June, and Saw-Grass took back Takato and Guilmon. The rest rode back on Cygnusmon or Steelix's backs.

"Say, WarMermon? Let's not go straight back to base. Or, at least, don't drop _me_ off there. Put me at the mausoleum where Mom and Kari were keeping the orphans."

"Why's that?"

"I…want to see Ingrid again."

"Okay…if you say so. But I think that Youngdramon should stay with you, once I split into Youngdramon and Tibemon again."

"So Tibemon and I get to walk home," June thought out loud. "Swell." 


	26. Chapter 25: Delight Revealed

Chapter 25: Delight Revealed

There was one shout that stared the entire ruckus: "Tina!" And that single word got the entire group of children to mob her; they remembered Tina as the one who had gotten them the television sets and the game systems…not to mention the toys and kittens. Also, of all the supervisors they'd had, Tina loved them the most---or, at least, showed it the most, as she wasn't scared to kneel down and hug a child she didn't know.

Tina couldn't help but look down at the children and answer them: "Hey, Jimmy! You must've grown three centimeters since I saw you last! Abby! Ooo, your kitten looks sick. Better have someone look at that. Tommy! You need to stop getting into fights. Lace, you're _still_ playing that solitaire hand-held game I got you? You need to share that with the others. Ben! What's up! How've you all been doing?" The mob scene lasted for a while, and it made Tina wonder if she shouldn't get into a career in politics: the people loved her.

Youngdramon was attending to Ingrid, who was afraid of the mob, but happy to see Tina. After Tina was done with the mob, she knelt down next to Ingrid, who immediately wrapped her arms around Tina and couldn't stop yelling, "Tina-Tina-Tina-Tina-Tina!"

"Pipe down! You're going to start up another mob scene!" Tina giggled. She set Ingrid down on her lap. "So…how've you been?"

Not knowing enough English to answer her question (or understand her question), Ingrid let out a one-word answer: "Tina!"

"Yeah, I missed you, too!" Tina answered, giving Ingrid a hug back. Tina looked around the mausoleum, and there were a only few supervisors around. Other than that, there was almost nothing in the mausoleum: no television sets, no toys, just about nothing. "Man, there _still_ isn't anything to do around here?" Tina asked Ingrid.

Ingrid had the innate urge to act like everyone else, and one thing that everyone else did around there was talk. So she answered Tina with one of the few words she knew (and her favorite word, at that): "Tina!"

"Oh, come on! You know more words than that!"

"Ti-_NA_!"

Tina giggled. "I just had to visit for a while, Ingrid. It's good to see you alive and well. And do you have your kitten, still?"

"Kit-ten!" Ingrid answered, pulling her kitten, Chickpea, out of her raincoat's collar. Chickpea had been asleep, and wasn't happy to be awakened.

"She's doing well," Tina thought aloud as she stroked the kitten's head. "Better put her back to bed."

On hearing the word "bed", Ingrid put the kitten back where it would keep her warm, lay down on the floor, and covered herself with her blanket.

Tina giggled. "You're a good girl, Ingrid. Good night."

"Good night," Ingrid answered.

Tina turned around. She found that the other children were using Youngdramon as a jungle gym. "Youngdramon! You don't know where those kids have been! Put them back!"

"Oh, all right," Youngdramon said, lowering her head so that the four-year-old who'd been using her snout as a pull-up bar would be able to let go of her.

"Aw, great!" Tina muttered, looking outside at the rain that was pouring out of the sky.

"I'll bet June's gonna be ticked at this."

"Oh, well," Tina said, pulling her hood up. "Mom will sure be angry that we had to walk in the rain, but, other than that…"

"Let's get going. This is one of those times when I'm glad I don't have any clothes that can get wet," Youngdramon thought to herself. As she stepped outside, she added, "Oooooooooooo! I _do_, however, have a bare spot on my scales that the rain does _not_ feel nice against. The bare spot was courtesy June enterprises."

"I know how to fix that," Tina said, pulling a strip of duct tape off from Youngdramon's roll and putting it over the bare spot.

"Oh…Why didn't _I_ think of that?" Youngdramon wondered.

"Because you're not a genius like I am?"

"Wanna bet on that?" Youngdramon asked.

"Let's just get back to base a quick as we can. I'm not too keen on getting these overalls wet."

******

"I'm going to nail Tina for this," June muttered.

Tibemon scratched her head in confusion. "June, you still have your umbrella with you: you're not getting wet."

"True, but my umbrella _is_ getting wet."

"Uh…isn't that what it's supposed to do?"

"Not this one. It's more of a fashion statement, as is anything its basic size and shape when it's folded up. I could work with a water bottle, but---well, you _can_ open a water bottle (it's pretty useless if you can't)---but Davis tends not to freak out when you open a _bottle_ indoors."

"That depends on how you tilt the bottle---and where the bottle is when you tilt it," Tibemon pointed out.

"That's true. But it's more fun to hit Davis automatically when I push the button on this thing. If they make an automatic water bottle, let me know."

"But, June, if your umbrella is wet when you hit him with it, then won't that make him wet and add insult to injury?"

"…You're right…! This might be a blessing in disguise!" she thought to herself.

"With Tina, most blessings come that way." Tibemon added.

"Hey! June! Wait up!" Tina shouted from behind them.

"Speak of the devil!" June said, turning around.

Tina skidded to a halt next to June. "There room under that thing for two?" Tina asked.

"Sure is," June answered.

"One question," Tina asked as they continued their walk. "If you had a friend who needed your help, but you also had a daughter who you wanted to be with, and they were in two different places and it was a bad idea to move them together…what would you do?"

"I think I'd ask a friend of mine a hypothetical question about my situation," June answered.

"Ha, funny."

"Where do you come up with these things?" June asked. "And since when do you have a daughter? Did this time anomaly pull her in from the future, or something?"

"No-no. I adopted her, kind of. She needed somebody to reach out to her, so I did."

"What was her problem?"

"The time anomaly wiped her memory, so she couldn't remember how to talk, and she was afraid of everything."

"That's not good."

"You're telling me."

"And who's the 'friend' we're talking about?"

"She used to be my roommate while we were still staying at the power plant. She's going through a difficult time in her life---more than you'd think. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag about what she's---!!" Tina's sentence trailed off as she heard a slagster behind them, roaring with its engine.

"Aw, great! Tell me you're strong enough to digivolve!" June said to Tibemon.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not," Tibemon moaned.

"Relax. Where there's a roll, there's a way," Youngdramon said, pointing to her duct tape. She lunged forward at the slagster and began flying circles around it…literally. "Polymer coil!" She wrapped him up again and again in duct tape, until she forced its arms to be pressed onto its chest. Then, as stupidly programmed as ever, it tried to fire, and, while it succeeded in melting the duct tape off with its attack, it also succeeded in melting some of its own components and destroying itself.

"Quick thinking, Youngdramon," Tina sighed. "That deserves a reward." Tina reached into her raincoat pocket and pulled out a candy bar. "Let's see," she said, reading the label. "High fat content, calories: 1000, protein: 50% DV (whatever that means), b-vitamins: 40% DV, carbs…ah, well, it's a suicide, heart-attack, chocolate-coated piece of chow loaded with all the good stuff."

"It's a breakfast bar," Tibemon cut in.

"That's what I just said. Youngdramon, if this doesn't perk you up enough for a digivolution, I don't know what will."

"Thanks," Youngdramon said, gulping the bar down in one bite. "That thing sure tastes like a chocolate-coated heart attack!"

"You said it," Tina agreed. "I love those things!"

"Alone, at last!" That was the voice of The Unnamed Figure.

Tina rolled her eyes. "And what _exactly_ would _you_ be doing here?"

"Getting my future personal…_attendants_, shall we say?"

"Easier said than done, punk!" Youngdramon shot back. "Take one step closer, and we'll steal your gauntlet again!"

"Oh, really…? **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Digi-modify!**** Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon, digivolve to…Houndramon!**"

"Perfect," Tina moaned.

Out of insolence, The Unnamed Figure took a step forwards. Youngdramon hurled a strip of duct tape at the gauntlet, lassoed it, and began to pull. Unfortunately, the gauntlet had become wet from all the rain, and the duct tape came off.

"Nice try!" The Unnamed Figure taunted. "Houndramon, sic 'em!"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

Houndramon charged up his attack: "Thunder torrent!"

"Dynamo blaster!" Ikudramon shouted. The attacks didn't cancel; Houndramon landed a hit on her.

"Ready to surrender?" The Unnamed Figure asked.

"We're just getting started!" Tina said. "Ikudramon, digivolve!"

"What??" June asked. "You don't have the crest program on your digivice!"

"**Ikudramon, digivolve to…Hydramon!**"

"…Or, maybe, you do…" June timidly admitted.

"Sic him…I mean, _it_, Hydramon!"

"Venom Breath!" Hydramon shouted, spitting poison onto Houndramon's nose. At first, the shot didn't look like it would do very much, but it was a poison attack, so it dealt damage more slowly than other attacks. "Hydra Blaster!" Hydramon added, spitting shot after shot down ad Houndramon, keeping it moving until the poison kicked in. Houndramon regressed back to Ewemon. "So, are _you_ ready to surrender?" Hydramon asked The Unnamed Figure with one of her three heads.

"I'll be back!" he shouted, pressing a button on his gauntlet. In a flash of light, he and Ewemon disappeared.

"Great. I'm getting sick of that guy," June sighed. "What say we put him out of commission permanently, next chance we get?"

"Sounds good to me, considering that his mind is in the gutter," Tina agreed. "What say we take the fast _and_ scenic route home?"

"We…ride Hydramon?"

"That's my idea!"

As they climbed onto the back of one of Hydramon's claws, June asked, "How did you know that you still had your crest?"

"It's simple: our digi-eggs were supposedly once our crests, right? But with time being messed up, our crests can be crests _and_ digi-eggs at the same time. My crest is the crest of adventure, and yours is the crest of persistence. I felt pretty adventurous when we digivolved Mermon to WarMermon, so I figure that it's the power of our crests that make her mega-digivolve. If we still have our crests, then we can digivolve to ultimate, too."

"Quick thinking. And I'm enjoying this ride to. Nice and dry."

"Amen, sister!" Tina agreed.


	27. Chapter 26: One Little Catch

Chapter 26: One Little Catch

Kari gaped in disbelief: "You mean to tell me that we had our crests _the entire time???_"

"Uh…yeah," Tina answered.

Kari slapped her forehead. "This is unbelievable! Here we are, using radio-digivolving and DNA digivolving to get to ultimate, and we have our crests???"

"Uh…what can I say?" Tina asked.

"Oh, tell them about the other part! Tell them about the other part!" Youngdramon cut in.

"Oh, right. We can get to the mega level with our crests, too: once our digimon are DNA digivolved, we can use our crests to get them to mega!!"

"Hmm…that's a pretty good reason _not_ to mothball DNA digivolving," Davis mused. "I'd just like to know what Exveemon's ultimate form is."

"There's one other thing," Tina said.

"What's that?"

"Once we find Cleaver, he might be able to rig up a Co-Op digivolving apparatus. We _have_ one of his D-Gauntlets, _and_ we have our crests. All the components are here; we just need someone to build it."

"That's important," Yolei agreed. "That would let us get a whole bunch of fighters up to the mega level."

"Yeah," Tina nodded. "But…in the meanwhile, how're we going to take care of Obelimn? If that thing is allowed to keep making control spires everywhere, then we'll never win Japan back!"

"We have a plan, Tina."

"Is it crazy?"

"Yeah, you might say so."

"What're the chances of it succeeding?"

"Probably low."

Tina excitedly beamed. "Sounds like a great plan to me! I want to hear it!"

"Ever heard of Omegamon?"

"…I can't say I have, no."

******

"Now, Yolei," Hawkmon sighed. "This is the third time we've come in this way. Isn't there some better way to bring everyone into the fight?"

"Cygnusmon is the biggest flying armor-digimon we have. We need to get there, and we need all the fighters we can get."

"Well…all right, if you insist. But, frankly, I am growing weary of this…**Hawkmon, armor-digivolve to…Anserimon, the fountain of love!**"

Misty pulled her water stone out of her pocket and touched it to Anserimon. "**Anserimon, radio-digivolve to…Cygnusmon, the never-ending fountain of love!**" Yolei got on Anserimon's back and motioned for the others to join. Tai, Matt, Davis, Ken, Tina, June (and their digimon), Suezo, Hare, Tiger, Tracy, Gary, and Ghenki were the only ones who were coming along. (Ha! "Only"??)

"I'm not 100% sure why you're taking _me_ along," Ghenki said to Yolei. "I mean, I can't module-evolve or anything like that."

"We need as many ground troops as we can get to fight once we get inside," Yolei explained. "That includes you, Tina, and June."

"What're we expecting to be inside?"

"We don't know," Yolei sighed in response.

"Great," Ghenki sighed. "So…where is this bucket of bolts, anyways?"

"That is a good question," Yolei answered. "I can't pick it up on my digivice…its radar signal only has so big a range."

"Then let's get moving," Tina asked. "Maybe we'll pick it up while we're flying around."

They took off and flew around for a long while before they found the Obelimn. It was still at its job of making control spires and putting them on the ground, but it was at the southern tip of the island, meaning that it was close to the Linonian base…which was not a good place to be. But they worked in the exact same way as before: Cygnusmon shot the control spire nearest them, and then…

"**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**"

"**Tiger, module-evolve to…Thunderdog!**"

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass!**"

"**Veemon, digivolve to…Exveemon!**"

"**Wormmon, digivolve to…Stingmon!**"

"**Exveemon!**"

"**Stingmon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Paildramon!**"

"**Paildramon, mega-digivolve to…Imperialdramon!**"

"**Imperialdramon, mode-change to…fighter mode!**"

Ghenki blinked. "Wow. Enough transformations?" he asked.

"Let's hope so," Davis shouted back as he and Ken jumped off Cygnusmon's back. "We'll take care of the welcoming committee, you guys take care of the Obelimn!"

"Will do!" Yolei shouted back. "Be careful, honey!" Yolei shouted down to Ken as the catamarines closed in around them.

"I will!"

"Nice family outing, huh?" Tina asked.

"We'll see about that, young lady! All right, now, let's do our thing!"

"**Agumon, warp-digivolve to…Wargreymon!**"

"**Gabumon, warp-digivolve to…Metalgarurumon!**"

"Now, just like before!" Tai shouted.

"I'm with you, Tai!" Matt answered. They clapped their digivices together…and nothing happened.

"Okay, that's not good," Tai gulped.

"Let's try again." They clapped their digivices together a second time.

"You mean we _can't make Omegamon???_" Yolei asked, mouth open.

"Apparently, _not_," Tai gulped.


	28. Chapter 27: Down One Factory

Chapter 27: Down One Factory

"There has to be _some_ way to get Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon to DNA digivolve!" Tai insisted.

"I dunno, Tai…personally, I think our best move would be to get all our mega digimon together and fight then, instead of trying to destroy it this way."

"That would leave our home base vulnerable! We need to find a way to get them to make it past the mega level, or we're finished!"

Yolei cut in, "I don't want my tombstone to read, 'she died because Tai and Matt argued so much, they didn't pay attention to the fight and got everyone creamed'!" (1)

"We need to make a decision about what we're going to do, here!" Matt answered

"But we need the decision _now_!" Yolei shot back.

Ghenki cut in, "What are those things you clapped together? What do they have to do with you trying to make your digimon evolve?"

Tai showed him the digivice. "If you have an idea how to make these things work, I'd be happy to hear it!"

"I…uh…_Hmm!_" Ghenki barely touched the screen of the digivice, and some kind of magnet-like forced Tai and Matt's digivices together.

"**Wargreymon!**"

"**Metalgarurumon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Omegamon!**"

"Okay, I was wrong: that _did_ work," Matt thought aloud.

"Toldja," Tai answered.

Omegamon flew down in front of the Obelimn, and he could see that The Unnamed Figure was inside the Obelimn's heavily shielded cockpit.

The Unnamed figure gaped at this new digimon. He tried to use his analyzer tool on his D-Gauntlet to identify it, and he couldn't figure out what level it was. This was a mysterious new digimon, and he had to try and find out how to deal with it. But one thing was for sure: he'd need to defend the Obelimn from it. "**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**"

"**Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon, digivolve to…Houndramon!**"

"**Pestilimon, digivolve to…Centimon!**"

"**Nekhbetmon, digivolve to…Remon!**"

"**Blackgatomon, digivolve to…Wickemon!**"

"And now, for the final stroke…" He put four pokéballs in his D-Gauntlet. "**Digi-modify! Co-Op digivolution, activate!**"

"**Houndramon, Co-Op digivolve to…Saberus!**"

"**Centimon, Co-op digivolve to…Maggonet!**"

"**Remon, Co-Op digivolve to…Black Rook!**"

"**Wickemon, Co-Op digivolve to…Lilithium!**" Lilithium looked somewhat human-like, but her skin was totally black, and she had a lot of metal on her body---metal that looked kind of like the hull of a spaceship.

Omegamon looked over the four super pokémon with a gulp. "Hey, we faced a _million_ megas this way, before!" Tai thought aloud. "Four super pokémon shouldn't be a problem!"

"We'd better hope not, Tai," Matt answered.

"Tri Attack!"

"Zap Cannon!"

"Spike Cannon!"

"Ice Beam!"

Omegamon's sword extended from Wargreymon's head. "Omega Sword!" He reflected the attacks back in the super pokémon's faces.

The Unnamed Figure's mouth dropped wide open. "There is _just…no…way!!!_ That thing is more powerful than super pokémon???"

Omegamon took the offensive: "Omega Cannon!" He fired a bolt of energy out at the four super pokémon, and they collapsed to the ground.

"**Digi-modify! Recovery, activate!** **Digi-modify! Firepower, activate!**" The Unnamed Figure unfortunately forgot that it was impossible to use his mod-cards on pokémon. He groaned in disgust. "I should've used their DNA digivolved forms!!" he groaned. "Too late, now…unless…" He took manual control of the Obelimn's weapons array, and the turret atop the cockpit aimed at Omegamon.

"Yonota!" the Obelimn shouted, firing a red blast straight at Omegamon. Omegamon staggered backwards.

"Now! While we have our chance! Tri Attack!"

"Thunder!"

"Faint Attack!"

"Ice Beam!"

Omegamon fell backwards. A block of ice froze onto his chest, and he could feel the electrocution, the heat, and the pounding of his opponent's attacks.

"Omegamon, _no_!!" Tai screamed.

"Omegamon, you have to get up!" Matt yelled. Omegamon didn't answer. He just lay on the ground.

The Unnamed Figure sneered. "Now," he said, switching off control of the weapons and changing it to steering control. "It's time for us to finish off this pest, and secure this island for the Linonian Empire, _once and for all_!!!" The Obelimn was poised to run Omegamon over. Just as it was about to crush him, Omegamon leapt up. The ice that had frozen him broke off, and he picked up the Obelimn and hurled it at the super pokémon. The super pokémon became their previous digimon's forms, along with a dodrio, a murkrow, a magnemite, and a sneasel.

"So much for them!" Omegamon shouted. "Omega Sword!" He hacked away at the Obelimn's spire-making arm with his blade, and, after a few strikes, the arm came off. "And now, for the big finish!" Omegamon stabbed the Obelimn with his sword several times, until it was so full of holes that it looked like a wedge of swiss cheese made out of metal. Then he stepped back, and he shot the Obelimn. Bits of it went flying everywhere.

"So much for us having to board that thing," Youngdramon thought aloud as she climbed off of Cygnusmon's back. "Oh, well…!"

"Hold everything," Tai said, picking up a piece of metal from the Obelimn's wreck. "Matt, what does this look like to you? What kind of metal is this?"

"It looks like…_silver_??"

"Why would they make this thing out of silver?"

"You've got me, Tai…you've got me. …But what are we standing around here, for? We have two pokémon trainers, three super Monsters, and one mega digimon slugging it out with catamarines! They _need_ our help!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Youngdramon pointed out.

"You shouldn't underestimate us so much!" Davis shouted. "Those catamarines didn't know what hit 'em!"

"And the Obelimn didn't have time to figure out what hit _it_," Omegamon answered. "But there's something weird about it I think you should know."

"Aw, great! What's that? That there's more than one? That this whole thing is part of some conspiracy? Or is it that this control spire thing is nothing but a plot to obliterate Earth?"

"Not as far as we know. It's that it was made of silver."

"Huh??? …Okay, that's weird."

******

"You know, I'm _really, **really**_ disgusted with you all," The Unnamed Figure sighed.

"Give us a break!" Ewemon insisted. "We didn't see that thing coming!"

"No, you didn't…and I'll be the first one to admit that none of us had a chance to prepare for that fight. But I know how the system works with the Linonian Empire: they're going to look for someone to blame for this failure, and that means someone to kill. It was a close enough call that we got out of there alive; I'm not going to risk my life going back to the base without doing _something_ to get back in the sub-major's good graces. I need to prove to him that I'm worth keeping alive and in his employment."

"But we're too weak to fight," Blackgatomon insisted. "We need to get a meal and some rest before we can fight again!"

"I know…" The Unnamed Figure spied a mother, carrying her baby in her arms. She held in one of her full hands a neon orange flyer that explained the situation of the heroes, and how there was a congregated group of people staying in the storm sewers. It was her last hope to get medical treatment and food for herself and her child.

The Unnamed Figure grinned. "Kill and eat them. That will give you enough meat for your meal." And without a pang of conscience, that is what his four digi-clones did. The Unnamed Figure picked up the flyer that the woman had been holding. "Hmm…you know how I was saying I needed to do something to put the sub-major back in a good mood?"

"Yeah," Ewemon said between bites.

"I think I've found _just_ the thing…!"

(1) That line, "I don't want my tombstone to read…" was actually a steal from a Caliber comic, Lifequest. Lifequest is a pretty gripping story, too, and it has more pictures and less narration than MON: 2028. And Lifequest also riddled with Christian stuff, although I'm not sure why the author calls God by the name, "Grimmius" in the books. I didn't ask him when I had the chance. Oh, well. 


	29. Chapter 28: Enter Terrance

Chapter 28: Enter Terrance

"Hey, Tina? Couldja tell me something?" June asked.

"What's that, June?"

"Why is it that, every time we're on foot and outside, it's raining?"

Just as Tina was about to answer, Youngdramon cut in, "Maybe it's because that's the kind of mood you're always in? You know: a big black cloud hovering over your head, and---"

"Very funny, Youngdramon," June spat. "It's just that…huh?" June heard distant crying noises. "You hear something, Tibemon?"

"Yeah, I hear it," she answered. "I'm not 100% sure where it's coming from, though."

"Maybe, if we move a little ways, we'll get a better idea," Tina thought aloud. They walked a few meters, and they found the source of the crying: it was a young man with long, red hair. He had a torn-up, drenched black sweatshirt and he had an electrical burn on his face. Tina gasped the minute she saw him. "Are you okay?" She asked. "Youngdramon, I hope that duct tape is sterile. We might need it for a bandage."

"No germ can penetrate the glue in this stuff!" Youngdramon answered.

"Good to know."

The red-haired person turned around and wiped the tears from his face. "I'm sorry; this electrical burn is killing me," he said.

"An e-gull got you?" Tina asked.

"Yeah…that's exactly what happened. I'm sure glad it didn't kill me, and that I had my pokémon with me."

"You're a pokémon trainer?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, I'm a pokémon trainer."

"There are about five pokémon trainers at our home base. We can get you bandaged up…and I would _think_ we could get that sweatshirt mended, too, or else we could get you a new one."

"But…I couldn't impose---I have nothing to offer you people for your kindness---"

Ushering him under the shelter of June's umbrella, Tina insisted, "We aren't _asking_ for anything in return. This is a humanitarian organization…the only one that exists, come to think of it. But, anyway, you look like you could use a hot shower, and a bowl of soup."

"I can get a shower at your base?" he sniffled.

"Yeah. June, here, found out that the water still runs at the building above us."

"Thanks for reminding me," June muttered.

******

"Sub-major, there is a private message for you from the emperor himself."

"I will read it in my office." The sub-major came out of his office a few minutes later with a look of determination and focus on his face---a look mixed with more than a little spite.

"What are your orders, sir?"

"I have no new orders for you. The contents of that message are unimportant at the moment, but they are top-secret. We may need to…_alter_ our plans later on. But, for now, continue the plans for mining."

"Understood, sir."

"And have the scientists step up production on our human operative's gear. We will need his assistance, from what I can tell."

"Understood."

******

Gary's jaw dropped open when he saw the thief walk into the refugee center. "Not _him_!" Gary moaned.

"Why not?" Tina asked. "He's just like you were: alone, confused, and in a strange world with man-eating robots prowling the streets!"

"But he's a thief! A larcenist! He tried to steal my Eevee!"

"Haven't you ever heard of forgive and forget?" Tina shot back.

"Listen, I'm sorry for trying to steal your pokémon," the thief sighed. "I…all I wanted to do was sell it so that I'd be able to buy something to eat for me and my little sister."

"Your little sister, huh?" Gary asked. "Where is this little sister of yours, now?"

"I…don't…know!" he moaned with a sob.

Gary didn't know whether this guy was faking it or not. But he remembered how insolent he'd been when he was stealing Eevee, and that made Gary nervous. This thief reminded him of himself…that was not a promising thought. "Ack, forget it!" Gary shouted.

"Come on," Tina said. "Let's get you a new sweatshirt before you freeze do death." Unfortunately, the only sweatshirt his size was pink and covered in flower designs.

"I think I'll wait until there's a better option," the thief said, taking off his sweatshirt.

Tina noticed he didn't have anything on underneath his sweatshirt. Her jaw dropped open in pity. Then, she got an idea. "Let's see if my raincoat will fit you," she offered, unbuttoning it.

"You don't have to---"

"I can keep warm without it; you can't. And the only way you could tell it was a girl's raincoat is the fact that it buttons to the left."

"Well…I don't know what to say, I…"

"Then don't say anything," Tina said with a giggle. "I'll be back for it when there's something for you to wear. Oh, and there are a few breakfast bars in the pockets," Tina added. "Could you keep them for me? If I put them in my overalls pocket, they'd melt."

"…Sure…"

"Go ahead and help yourself to one of you're starving. I'll see ya later. Oh, by the way…what was your name?"

"Oh, uh, Terrance."

"Terrance…see ya later." Tina walked away from the refugee center.

Terrance wasn't his real name. But he hoped he'd be able to remember it in the near future. And he hoped that an opportunity would present itself later on. 


	30. Chapter 29: Under Their Noses

Chapter 29: Under Their Noses

Kari yelled down the shaft, "Anybody coming up?" There was no answer. "Okay, because I'm coming down!" At this point, she really wished that she had a third arm so that she'd be able to hold the box of clothes as well as the rungs of the ladder. She ended up holding the box in her teeth, which made climbing down difficult…but she managed.

After a few minutes of climbing, she heard a loud, "Is anybody coming down?"

"Nnnnngh!" Kari answered through her nose. (She would've answered with her mouth if that part of her head hadn't been busy at the time.)

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," the person at the bottom replied.

Kari would've gladly sped up her descent (she needed to use the bathroom, and she knew that, after her climb down, there was a climb up she'd have to make, too, before she'd make it to the restroom), but the box prevented her from doing that. Then, it occurred to her: it was _ clothes_ that were in that box. Clothes would probably survive the fall. She took the box in one hand, and then shouted down, "Are you ready for something to drop down?"

"What're you dropping?"

"A box of clothes!"

"Oh… Hit me!" the person at the bottom yelled.

"Bombs away!" Kari yelled, dropping the box. The landing didn't go quite how Kari had hoped. The clothes kind of scattered all over the floor. But, oh well…the floor was still covered in wheat from the last falling incident, so it wasn't _that_ filthy…

After telling the person at the bottom that she was going up, Kari climbed back up towards the top, but she felt something hit her head. It was like a raindrop, except that it was dry. She picked it up and looked at it. It was a kernel of wheat. More kernels fell. Kari pulled up her hood and yelled up, "Hey, watch out, will ya?"

"Somebody's coming up?" Kari heard Tina yell down the shaft.

"Yes, somebody is coming up," Kari answered. "And quit moving your feet! The weather is doing enough weird stuff without it raining wheat!"

"Sorry," Tina shouted.

Kari climbed to the top, took down her hood, and shook the bran out of her hair.

"Oh, I really got you, didn't I?" Tina asked.

"Yes, you did. And---say, you're a little wet, aren't you?"

"Yeah. It's still raining out there."

"Where's your raincoat?"

"At the bottom. I lent it to one of the refugees."

Kari frowned. "Your mother would kill you for that. You know it's against regulations to lend your clothes to refugees."

"So I bent the rules a little to keep a refugee warm for a while. Big deal. He sure didn't look like he was sick to me," Tina said as she approached the shaft.

"Hold it…someone's still coming up," Kari cautioned.

"Oh…Thanks."

As the man who was ascending the ladder came to the top, Tina gasped as she saw that he was covered in wheat kernels. "Oh, I am so sorry!" Tina moaned, looking at his condition.

The man blew a few kernels out his nose.

Eager to get out of his presence, Tina shouted down the shaft, "Anybody coming up?"

"Yes!"

_So much for that plan to get out of here,_ Tina thought to herself. Tina excused herself to a dark corner of the boxcar. She found a rat in there, and so she picked up the rat and threw it out the boxcar. She made a mental note to wash her gloves after that. But the shaft was finally clear, and she began climbing down. She found Terrance, picking up a white sweatshirt off the ground. With only one word, he offered Tina her raincoat back: "Thanks."

"No problem," Tina answered. "Anybody coming down?" Tina shouted up the shaft.

"I was about to," the answer came. It was the voice of the same man that she had showered with wheat before. Tina shook her head and sighed. "I think I'll need that thing."

"It's still raining up there?"

"Yes, but I'll need it to keep the wheat off me. That guy might be looking for revenge."

"You poured grain on him?"

"On accident, yeah. You'd think somebody would decide to move that boxcar some time, but nobody has."

"Oh. Well…thanks again. And good luck getting up there."

"Thanks."

_I seem to be fitting in,_ Terrance thought to himself. _Any time now…in fact, maybe now is a good time_. He shouted up the shaft, "Hey, uh…you girl, whatever-your-name-is…"

"Tina."

"Tina…Since I'm a pokémon trainer, is there any chance that I could…uh, help you guys with my pokémon?"

"…Maybe. Come up topside, and we'll see. But hurry up; we don't want to keep this guy waiting!"

"Okay." Terrance hurried up the ladder and looked outside at the rain. Then he looked back at Tina, and she was taking off her raincoat. Saying what he thought he ought to say to keep his façade, he begged, "Oh, no; you can't give me that again when you're---"

Ignoring what he was saying, Tina draped the coat over both their heads. "Let's make it speedy, okay?" she said. "On the count of three, we run for the door. One."

"Two."

"_Three!_" They bolted for the doorway to the building, but not before a saberstrike spotted them.

He reached for one of his pokéballs. "Murkrow, I choose you!" Murkrow looked like he'd seen better days: he was too tired to fight the saberstrike. Calling his sick pokémon back, he said, "Okay, okay…Tina, you run inside for help. I'll keep him distracted until---"

"Sic him, Joey!" Tina shouted. A Rendilian's head popped out of Tina's overalls pocket. Joey let out a war-cry whistle and shot the saberstrike with his laser gun.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Joey answered, still leaving his head outside the pocket.

"You've…got a digimon living inside your pocket?" Terrance asked.

"Yeah. But---hey, how would you know about digimon if you're from a parallel universe where digimon don't exist?"

"Uh…well…I've been on this world for a long time…" he answered.

Tina shrugged. "What're we still doing out here? Let's get inside, already!" Once they were in, Tina shouted to Yolei, "New recruit, Mom!"

Yolei had her arms folded, and she had a frown on her face. "Tina? Kari told me about how you lent a piece of your clothing to a refugee."

"I lent it to him," Tina said, pointing to Terrance. "He looked clean and healthy to me…and he should've been clean, considering that he had been showering _in the rain_. But, anyway---"

"That's enough, Tina! You know you're not supposed to lend a jacket that _you_ use to a refugee. Have that raincoat washed, and don't do anything like that again. Now…you were saying about a new recruit?"

"This is Terrance, Mom. He is a pokémon trainer who we just found."

Yolei eyed him. "What exactly do you mean 'just found'?"

"I meant it literally at the time I said it."

"No-no: how long ago did you find him?"

"About two hours ago."

"It's too soon! He hasn't had a doctor look at him. He hasn't gotten to know the layout here. He's not ready for duty yet. Give him another 24 hours. Then we'll see what we can do with him."

_Twenty-four hours…that's a little too long for comfort, but I bet they can manage without me for that long._

******

Takato sighed. "You heard about that whole control spire deal, right?"

"Uh…no. What's going on?"

"There was this one big vehicle-menace-machine-thingy that we destroyed a while ago, and it made all these control spires. The spires keep digimon from digivolving, so we needed to take them out. In fact, we still need to find them all and destroy them."

"And that's our job?" Terrance asked.

"That's our job."

"I see…before we start, is it okay if I use the…uh, 'can' for a second?"

"Sure…no problem."

Terrance ducked into an alleyway. There were his four digi-clones.

"Where've you _been_?" Jaymon hissed.

"It took them a while before they could put me on duty. But I'm fitting in; that's the important thing."

"What's our plan?" Maggotmon asked.

"Once I get to know the layout well enough, I have each of you hide in a different corner of the place. Then, I digivolve you up to a high enough form, trash the whole place, and take their leaders prisoner---not to mention some of the nicer-looking girls. …For that, we'll need Indramon to carry them away unseen. And we'll need to take them by surprise. Do you still have my D-Gauntlet?" Terrance asked.

"It's right here," Blackgatomon replied, holding out the device.

"Good. We have to make sure I have it when the attack begins. One other thing: we need to get those digimon that evolved up beyond mega. We can kill them if we have to, but capturing them would be _so _much better. If this won't get me back in the Linonian Empire, I don't know what will!" He heard some shouting outside. "Excuse me. I'd better get back into my act." 


	31. Chapter 30: Soliloquoy

Chapter 30: Soliloquy

The shouting had been about Takato finding Henry. Henry was with one of the Digidestined from the television show: Willis. Takato couldn't believe his eyes. "Where are Cleaver and Izzy?"

"They're back at our headquarters."

"Where on earth is _that_?"

"We're using a certain unreachable corner of the Jacqueline-Keeves Institute for our safe spot," Willis answered. "There was still some lab equipment there, so we tried to use that to keep Cleaver's research going."

"Oh, and guess what? Cleaver made another warp-digivolving card," Henry added, brandishing the gold-plated piece of paper in his hand.

"Tell him to make a third; there's only one between me and Rika!"

"Well, I'd be happy to---"

Terrance cut in, "I hate to interrupt, but…who're these two?"

"These are Willis and Henry! Henry's an old friend of mine, and Willis is another Digidestined. We've been looking for them for ages!"

"So…now that we've found them back, what do we do?"

"Simple: one of them goes back to their base with one of us, and the other two go back to our base."

"So…we each go back to our bases?"

"Yes… Uh, no. I mean---!!!" Takato let out a grunt of frustration. "You go with Willis back to the JK institute, and I go with Henry back to our HQ. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good. C'mon."

As they were walking away, Terrance heard Henry say, "Still have a communication problem, Takato?" and Takato answer, "What?" and then them laughing.

"So," Willis asked. "How are you guys doing at humanitarian HQ?"

"I don't know; I only just got there, myself."

"Hmm. Well, it's okay at the JK Institute…hey, that's a catchy slogan: 'it's OK at JK.' …Anyhow, since we only have ourselves to feed, and we still have electricity, it's fairly easy for us to survive. And---we don't know why, but the digging menace machines won't come near where our hideaway is."

"Maybe it's because they're finding too many pipes in the walls. That would confuse their sonar."

"How would you know that?"

"Because…I…uh, I studied sound, once."

"Oh. Well, I never studied sound before in my life, so…"

"Have you been having any trouble defending the JK Institute from attacking menace machines?"

"Oh, no. Not since Cleaver made that second gold card."

"And the gold cards let the tamers' digimon reach the mega level?"

"That's what they do."

"Hmm…" _More and more ways to mess up their plans,_ Terrance thought to himself. _And I wonder if those cards could be modified to work on my D-Gauntlet?_

"Right now, we're working on a dampening field to counteract the effects of the control spires."

"You'd still need to blow them up, though?" Terrance asked.

"Well, yeah, but that would be easier if you could digivolve. Not that I hate golden-armor digivolving, or anything…"

"Say, Willis," Terriermon cut in, "Looks like we're about to have company! Saberstrikes!"

"Great," Terrance thought aloud. _Hopefully, my pokémon are recovered enough to fight these things!_ "Sneasel, Murkrow, Houndoom, I choose you!" he shouted, letting out a trio of dark pokémon. 

"**Terriermon, digivolve to…**um, Willis? I think we're in range of a control spire."

"Then we have to do this the other way…**Golden armor, energize!**" Willis shouted, holding up the golden egg of intellect.

"**Terriermon, golden-armor digivolve to…Rapidmon, the arsenal of intellect!**" Rapidmon flew up into the air. "Rapid fire!" he shouted, launching missiles into the crowd of saberstrikes.

"**Ferra-tor-grend'l****, noh kreshnaiona djom…Ferra-tor-cknii!**"

"Looks like that spire doesn't stop their evolution," Terrance thought aloud.

"No, it doesn't," Willis sighed.

"Houndoom, try faint attack on them!" Houndoom seemed to vanish, and then the spiderstrikes felt a few blows get dealt to them.

"Now, Murkrow, you too! If they can't see you, they get confused! Sneasel, you three!"

"Rapid fire!" Rapidmon shouted again as he dodged a few beams of yellow lasers that flew up at him from the spiderstrikes' heads. More and more spiderstrikes were getting picked off left and right until there were none left. Rapidmon flew down and asked, "Do you want me to fly you the rest of the way home?"

"It's probably a good idea," Willis agreed.

Terrance called back his pokémon and climbed on. As they took off, he shouted, "Hey, wait! Slow down, I'm going to throw up if you go this fast!!"

"Hey, what do you expect from a name like 'Rapidmon'?"

******

"…So we think that you'll be able to copy their Co-Op digivolving methods with the information we have," Yolei concluded.

Cleaver exhaled loudly out pursed lips. "There's no telling how long that would take," he answered.

"But this will give us a way to reach a level comparable to the mega level!" Yolei insisted.

"I know, I know…but I'm not making any promises on how long it would take. I mean, it could be months before I'm finished. Then again, it might only be a matter of days. I don't know. But, anyway, where is this D-Gauntlet now?"

"I have it right here," Yolei answered.

Taking the device out of her hands and examining it, Cleaver whistled in admiration. "A real piece of work! I wish I'd made that thing," he thought to himself. "I'll see what I can do. I'm probably going to need one of your digivices, digimon, and pokémon for a field test, though."

"I'll ask around for volunteers."

"There's one last thing, though: it would help me in studying the Co-Op digivolving process if I could study a specimen of one of the digi-clones. That would give me a better idea what those things are, exactly, and how I can adapt the procedure to normal digimon."

"There's good news and bad news about that. The good news is we can get you a dead one. The bad news is that it'll be Shakkoumon."

"That guy was pretty big last I checked…like, eleven stories?"

"About that," Yolei answered. "And he'll be in pieces."

Cleaver sighed. "I don't know what that'll get me. When a normal digimon dies, their body and their subspace matrix become disconnected, and it's the subspace matrix that---for the most part---keeps the body together. That means that the normal-space body disintegrates. But if this guy didn't disintegrate when he died, then either his subspace matrix is still attached, or he keeps himself together without it. We won't be able to tell until we check it out, will we?"

"Should I get you some pieces?" Yolei asked.

"That would be great, yeah."

******

"So they want to implement Protocol Omega," the sub-major thought to himself. "And they blame me for their loss of the home world…this is outrageous!" he muttered. "Since when was _I_ responsible for shipments home? That was just the security for the shipments casting the blame to me!" He sighed. "Why is it that my career must take such turns? I'd be fortunate to escape this situation with my life, let alone my career. …And it gets better: they want _me_ to give the order to the miners in the asteroid belt? They are insane! I will not throw away my life like a worthless piece of trash! I am going to get that crown to the Empire, one way or another. And I know how I will do that…" 


	32. Chapter 31: Undercurrents Upwelling

Chapter 31: Undercurrents Upwelling

Rika was asleep on Tina's bedroll…that was a good thing; she wouldn't notice him. He kept his hormones and predatory instincts in check as he crept up to her, hoping that her mod-cards would be somewhere that he could get them. He found them in a leather holster, and he easily spotted the metallic gleam of the warp-digivolving card. He pocketed the card, and began to walk away. He bumped into Tina on the way out. "Oh…excuse me."

"Guess what? We'll be testing a new digivolving process that we stole from this one guy who was working for the enemy. Something called Co-Op digivolving. We're gonna need some pokémon to test it out. You want to give it a go?"

"Uh, thanks but no thanks," he answered. "I need to…uh, get some sleep."

"Okay, then. G'night."

"Good night." _Man, I sure hope they don't catch me in the act again!_ he thought to himself.

He climbed down the ladder to the humanitarian HQ, and he found a spot to sit and slept there. In the morning, he was about to go out on control spire-destroying duty again when he found that he'd been reassigned: he was now working with T.K. and Cody. So off they went, in search of control spires, and it wasn't tough for them to find one.

"So…which one of us takes it out?" Terrance asked.

"I'll handle this one," Cody answered. "**Digi-armor, energize!**"

"**Armadillomon, armor-digivolve to…Digmon, the drill of knowledge!** Rock cracking!" Digmon shouted, drilling into the ground and sending a crack flying towards the obelaser. The obelaser toppled.

"I don't think that'll stop it," Terrance cautioned.

"Why do you say that?" Cody asked.

"I…uh…"

"Ota V'ver!" the obelaser shouted, firing a purple beam at them.

"That's why," Terrance answered, dodging the beam.

"Gold rush!" Digmon yelled, firing a few drill rockets at the obelaser. The rockets bounced right off. "Well, this is certainly going well," Digmon sighed.

"Time to radio-digivolve!" Cody yelled, pulling out Ash's sun stone.

"**Digmon, radio digivolve to…Excavatemon, the diamond drill of knowledge!**" Excavatemon had a whirling drum of digging tools in front of him, along with drills on each of his front legs. "Time to take care of this thing! Cask crusher!" He drove into the obelaser with his drum and ground it to pieces. "That was easy enough," he said with a grin.

"Don't hold your breath," Terrance answered.

"He's right. You should stay in your current form so that we can fight the next one."

"Okay…climb aboard," Excavatemon said. "Going up!" Excavatemon hovered across the city to the next obelaser. "Diamond rush!" he shouted, firing a pair of drill missiles at the obelaser.

"Ota V'ver!" it shouted back, blowing up both missiles.

"Well, isn't _that_ dandy?" Excavatemon muttered. "Oh, well…Cask crusher!" Again, he flew straight at the obelaser's top pyramid. It fired another laser shot at him, but to no avail: the beam reflected off of Excavatemon's spinning blades, and he still destroyed it. "At this rate, we'll have this island cleaned up in no time!"

"If you can keep this up, yeah," T.K. answered. "But how long can you stay in this form?"

Patamon cut in, "I've been able to stay in my armor form for a long time. Excavatemon is no different."

"Why, thank you," Excavatemon beamed. "Before you know it---"

"Non Kamna!" a spiderstrike fired a yellow beam down at Excavatemon. It narrowly missed.

"Hello!" Excavatemon shouted, beginning to run evasive maneuvers.

The three humans on his back looked up at the flock of spiderstrikes that were bearing down on them. "There are way too many for my pokémon to take," Terrance said.

"Relax, Terrance!" T.K. said. "So long as there isn't a control spire around, they don't stand a chance!"

"What do you mean?"

"Watch-and-learn! Ready, Patamon?"

"Ready as I'll ever be! **Patamon, digivolve to…Angemon!**"

"Let's hope Tina was right about our crests being back," Cody said.

"**Angemon, digivolve to…Magnaangemon!**" Similar to Angemon, Magnaangemon was only a bit different from his previous form: he had a white robe covering his body, but the same armor jutted out from his robe as before.

"Looks like she was right," T.K. said. "Now, show 'em what you've got, Magnaangemon!"

"Gate of Destiny!" Magnaangemon shouted, waving his laser sword in a circle. The spiderstrikes were too stupid to avoid flying into the vacuum-like vortex, and the whole flock was demolished in one fell swoop.

Terrance's mouth dropped open: Magnaangemon was clearly another priority target. If he could destroy eighteen _ferra-tor-cknii_ in one attack, then he had to be dealt with. He disguised his horror as surprise and said, "Wow! It's a wonder that we are even afraid of these machines!"

"No kidding," Magnaangemon said as he regressed back to Patamon.

"Here," T.K. said, pulling a candy bar out of his jacket pocket. "If you eat now and recover quickly, then there's a better chance that you'll be able to fight if another bunch of those shows up."

"Good idea," Patamon said. "Boy, do I have the life! Fight, eat, sleep."

"Sounds like a great lifestyle to me," Excavatemon said as he sniped another obelaser at long-range. After another hour of flying around and attacking these spires, Excavatemon regressed back down to a dog-tired Armadillomon, and they began to head back to base.

As the walked, it began to snow.

"Whoa," T.K. said, pulling a blanket out of his knapsack. "I hate it when this happens!"

"I thought you liked snow," Cody said.

"Not when it sneaks up on me!"

"It _could_ be worse, you know."

Cody should not have said that. A group of throwbacks appeared out of nowhere and began taking potshots at them.

T.K. held up the golden digi-egg of hope and shouted, "**Golden armor, energize!**"

"**Patamon, golden-armor digivolve to…Metatronmon, the angel of hope!**"

"Magneton, I choose you!"

Metatronmon and Magneton had no trouble dealing with the throwbacks, but there was a problem that none of them saw: behind them, there was a saberstrike looming for the kill. It roared just soon enough for Cody to see it winding up its sonic attack.

"_Get down!_" he shouted, lurching at Terrance and knocking him to the ground just as the sonic blast fired.

"Houndoom, use flamethrower on that thing!" His dog-like pokémon spat a stream of flame into the saberstrike, and that was it for the saberstrike.

"Are you okay?" Cody asked.

"I'm fine but---uh-oh. Your hands look pretty scratched-up."

"I know; I need to start wearing gloves, like all the other Digidestined. But better my hands than all of you."

"Yeah…thanks…"

It wasn't long before they were back at base, and Cody was getting his hands bandaged up in Joe's "office". They had found one room in the sewers that was relatively clean, and they were using that room for medical treatment. Cody was surprised when he saw Tina burst in with an even-happier-than-usual look on her face.

"What is it, Tina?"

"Well, Cody, Youngdramon and I had been thinking that we needed a little holiday to break the monotony."

"You and Youngdramon aren't taking a vacation."

"I _know_ that we aren't; I mean that we need something like a carnival, or an event---you know, something that comes around only once a year."

"You mean something like Christmas?"

"Well, yeah, but let's not do Christmas. Christmas is overdone; let's do Easter."

Cody shook his head. "It's too soon to do Easter. There hasn't been Lent, yet."

"Lent is a tradition, not an absolute, Cody. And besides, there are basically two traditions for Lent: you either give up chocolate until Easter, or you give up eating any meat except fish until Easter. This is Japan, without any global trade: there hasn't _been _ any meat besides fish…which is ticking me off! And about the chocolate? I checked with my mom: we haven't found any candy at all. …Until now, I mean."

"And the candy is safe?"

"Quality tested!" Tina answered. She stuck out her tongue and her tongue was covered in a gooey, brown-colored substance.

Cody let out a disgusted, low, "_OH!!!_"

"It's just chocolate," Tina said.

"I know that it's chocolate, but I also know what it looks like." He sighed. "Why exactly did you come to me about this?"

"Well, someone has to narrate the pageant, and you're the most logical choice."

"Pageant…?" 


	33. Chapter 32: The SignUp

Chapter 32: The Sign-Up

"You want me to be _Who_?!" Matt asked.

"I want you to play the part of Jesus."

"I don't have a Jesus look. Everywhere you see Jesus in films or anything, He has a tall head, beard, brown hair---"

"It doesn't matter, Matt! That's probably not what He really looked like, anyway. The important thing is that you have the scars on your arms!"

"Huh?" Matt looked at his arms, and, sure enough, they were covered in scars from the time when the Linonians had tried to torture him to death. "But…if I…oh, all right. But what's my part in it, exactly?"

"Well, first you play a corpse, of course. A few guys put you in a tomb---"

"Yuck! I don't want to be in there with all kinds of dead bodies!!"

"There _aren't _any dead bodies in there, Matt! Part of the story was that Jesus was buried in a tomb that had never been used before."

"Has this one ever been used before?"

Tina shook her head. "If it has been, this whole time-getting-messed-up thing fixed that."

"That's a relief. But Jesus didn't stay dead; what else do I do?"

"You get to trick Sora into thinking you're the gardener of the cemetery."

"Sora? What's she doing?"

******

"You want me to play _who_?"

"Mary Magdalene."

"…But isn't she the woman who jumps to conclusions?"

"She listens this time."

Sora was a little…perplexed. She didn't know whether she really wanted the part or not. It might be a good chance to get away from the routine, but, then again…

"Oh, come on, Sora! You're perfect for the part! And don't tell me that you can't act, because I know you can."

"What all is involved?"

"You have to look sad and pensive, and you have to burst out crying and say, 'body snatchers took him away!' or something like that."

Sora was still a little hesitant to accept, but even more hesitant to reject.

"Please? …It's for the kids!"

Sora sighed. "All right. I'll do it."

"Great! Now, I just have to round up a few other mourners."

******

"No thanks. Black isn't really my color," June said, looking over the costume that Tina had pieced together. It consisted of a black, cashmere poncho and a black towel to go around her waist.

"Oh, come _on_! All you need to do is look sad and confused."

"I don't _want_ to look sad and confused! Sad and confused doesn't go well with my face. Happy and contented looks way better."

Tina rolled her eyes. "On second thought, spiky hair isn't exactly what the audience will be expecting. Hair gel came about 1900 years after this happened, so…"

"But I bet there are a few girls in the orphanage who fit the bill."

"Yeah, probably." Tina and Youngdramon walked outside and into the boxcar, and then took the long climb down the ladder into the makeshift refugee center.

"This is a lot easier for you than it is for me," Youngdramon said.

"I bet," Tina said. "No offense, but I'm lighter than you, and my limbs were built for carrying my weight."

The descent was longer for Youngdramon than it was for Tina, but they both made it. "Natasha?" they called out. "Natasha?"

It took a while of looking, but Tina found Natasha, hiding in a corner. "What are you doing there?"

"Trying to keep out of sight. Let's just say that there are a few conversations I don't want to get trapped in, down here."

"…Are there some raunchy jokes flying, down here?"

"You'd think this was an old war movie, or something." Natasha sighed. "What's the deal?"

"Basically, it's that we need to break the monotony. We need some kind of a morale booster, and my idea is to have a little holiday."

"…Which holiday? Christmas?"

Tina shook her head. "Overdone. Besides, I'll be the only one who likes fruitcake."

_Fruitcake is usually another thing that's overdone_, Natasha silently thought to herself. "Then…what _are_ we doing?"

"Easter, of course!"

Natasha slapped her forehead and said, "_Duh_! Of course, Easter!"

She said that a little too loud: one of the older, male refugees shouted, "Natasha, you hidin' out back there?"

Natasha and Tina kept their mouths shut.

"I'm comin' over there! I haven't told you about the time I---"

"Can't stay and chat, Benny. This Digidestined has a special assignment for me."

"Digidestined?" Benny looked at Tina's digivice. "Well…okay, but you take her back here, y'hear?"

"I hear," Tina answered.

Tina took Natasha back up the long climb. "You know," Youngdramon said, "I think I should just stay up at the top, next time!"

"Yeah, maybe," Tina grunted as she pushed Youngdramon up the shaft.

"What exactly did you want to talk to me about?" Natasha asked.

"We're doing an Easter pageant---explaining the story about what happened when Jesus rose from the dead. We need a few actors for the pageant."

"I can't act!"

"You won't have to say anything…you'll just have to look sad, scared, and confused," Youngdramon said.

"Given planet Earth's situation, I am all three of those, anyway!"

"So your job is easy!" Youngdramon snorted.

"Youngdramon, be nice!" Tina muttered. "Anyhow, I was wondering if you'd like to be one of the mourners who come to his grave and see it's empty?"

"Actually, Ingrid would probably like it more if I were sitting next to her in the audience. But why would I have had to come up here? Is there a rehearsal that's about to start?"

"No, it's more like I'll need help to plant the Easter eggs, and I wanted to take you to the orphanage."

"Where is it?"

"It's actually in a mausoleum."

"Gross!"

"It's cleaner than the storm sewers," Youngdramon cut in.

"…Okay, I can see that…"

"Anyhow, guess who is there, right now?"

"…_Ingrid_?!?!"

"That's the one!"

Natasha let out a squeal of delight. "Take me over there!"

"I will, I will, but there's one thing…"

"What?"

"It's not a good idea for us to go alone…we'll need another fighter to come along, in case we meet some menace machines…while we're at it, I think we might as well get the candy together. I think I know just who to ask."

******

A bead of sweat trickled down the back of Hare's neck. "Uh…what's with the vest? And why the baskets?"

"Oh, the vest is only secondary," Natasha answered.

"And, uh, why would we be heading for the _ cemetery_?"

"It's the best place we could find," Youngdramon said around the basket she held in her mouth.

"The best place for _ what_?!"

"Hiding the eggs in the baskets."

"But what's the point of that?" Hare sniffed the eggs. "These aren't even real eggs! They smell like poison!"

"They probably would be poisonous to you, but not to humans."

"But…but…I'm not understanding one thing about this. Could you explain what the point of hiding poisoned eggs around in a cemetery is?"

"So kids can have fun finding them."

"…Oh. Well, that explains everything, doesn't it?"

"It's an old Christian tradition that we have. It's done every Easter."

"Easter? That sounds more like a direction than a religious holiday."

"Well, it is a holiday."

"And what're the eggs for? How do they tie in to the religious part?"

"Actually, they don't."

"So why are we taking all the trouble to do this---and why did anyone _ever_ take the trouble to go out and hide poisoned eggs?"

"I don't know how the tradition got started, but kids will bend over backwards for candy eggs."

"And what if we get attacked while we're out here?"

He had to ask. A flock of e-gulls flew in at them.

"Think we even need to digivolve for these things?" Youngdramon asked.

"Probably not," Tina answered.

"In that case, Dragon bomb!"

"Fire bomb!" Hare shouted throwing fireballs into the flock. 

The e-gulls weren't lasting, but they weren't giving up, either. "Jero Dra!" they shouted, firing blasts of electricity at the three of them.

They side-stepped the lightning bolts and kept firing.

Tina decided to add to their chances: "♫ _ Jo-eeeey_?! ♪" Joey's head popped out of her pocket, and Joey began taking pot-shots at the e-gulls, too. It wasn't long before the e-gulls were scrap metal.

"That wasn't so hard," Hare smiled.

"Yeah…at least they didn't combine with each other."

"Now…where were we?"

"Where were we in what?"

"You were explaining what we're doing."

"Oh, right. Well, there's this little myth that has nothing whatsoever to do with the religious part of this holiday. The myth goes like this: there's a rabbit that goes around the night before Easter, and he hides Easter eggs for the children to find."

"Now, what _exactly_ is there to be gained for the rabbit in hiding eggs when he knows the children are just going to find them, anyway?"

"The rabbit has nothing to gain: this whole thing is a game, and the rabbit hides the eggs out of the kindness of his heart."

"...But if the eggs really get out there for the kids to find, and it's all a myth, then who really hides them?"

"Usually the children's parents hide them the night before, and then the kids wake up and find them."

"I see. And you want me to do what with these?"

"Hide them around the cemetery."

"You are letting kids play around in a cemetery?"

"It's a big, open space, it's close to the mausoleum, and there's a lot of shelter in case it starts to rain while we're in the middle of the festivities."

Hare shrugged. "Okay."

"One other thing: don't hide all the eggs in one spot. There will be a few dozen kids looking for them, and I don't want one of them to find all the eggs. I want each one to find some."

"Hmm…and you said that I'll have another job in the pageant after all this is done?"

"Yep."

"Um…if the pageant explains the religious part of the holiday, and the Easter Bunny myth has nothing to do with the religious part, then why am I even _in_ the pageant?"

"You'll see. But you're not in it for very long."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: (Some Christian content)

Now, I understand that the rest of the world is probably scratching their heads about this particular Easter celebration. Well, I'll explain it as best I can: this is America's tradition. If America does something, you _know_ it's going to be messed up and inaccurate. I mean, take a look at our education plan! But, anyhow, what Tina explained above is essentially the Easter tradition of America. …That, and go to church. Now, Easter is _always _on a Sunday, and some people are in the habit of going to church _every_ Sunday (hooray!), but some people are superstitious and think that going to church just once on Easter and forgetting about church the rest of the year will benefit them more than going to church year round. If they would go to church year round, they'd probably know that this idea is wrong.

As Tina said, the egg hunts have nothing to do with Jesus rising from the dead, which is the event that we actually celebrate on Easter. How that and the Easter Bunny got tied into the holiday, I don't know…but it may have had something to do with the fact that Easter always happens in the spring…at least, in the northern hemisphere…and spring is associated with new life. Rabbits and eggs also mean new life, and so the connection is very distant.

Now, Tina wrote this particular pageant, so it's going to be a pretty wacky ordeal, while still remaining true to the essentials of the story and the heart of the story. So sit back and enjoy the next chapter. 


	34. Chapter 33: The Easter Pageant

WARNING: Okay, you might have guessed that there is Christian content in this…_maybe_. Just in case you haven't, I'll let you know now that there is.

Chapter 33: The Easter Pageant

"So…do you want to come along?" Tina asked Terrance.

"Sure. It's been forever and a half since I've had a holiday, and this _will_ be better than looking all over town for control spires in the sleet."

Tina nodded. "They haven't really put me on control-spire seek patrol…that's probably my mom's doing. But, anyhow, it starts tomorrow night."

"Great. That will give me time to get ready."

"'Get ready?'" Tina chuckled. "This isn't exactly a formal occasion."

Terrance shrugged. "By the way, I know a few things about the Easter story…doesn't the tomb get sealed?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, it's because I happen to have something that could pass as a sealing wax for the pageant."

"I see. That will fit right into the plot. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You said that Matt was supposed to be Jesus?"

"Yep."

"Hmm…just checking." After Tina left, Terrance sneered. _This fits into my plans even better than this base,_ he thought to himself. _If I seal Matt in that catacomb, he'll smother…and with him out of the way, they won't be able to trans-mega digivolve and make that digimon that defeated Obelimn! And I'll trash everything with Rainmyotismon on my side!_

******

"Could you remind me again what this is for?"

"You'll be supervising the orphans during the Easter egg hunt," Tina answered, laying another strip of neon-colored duct tape on top of Rika's poncho.

"And…why the poncho?"

"The kids have been taught to recognize the green duct tape, and it's easier to get the duct tape on plastic than it is on fabric. Oh, and you'll want to carry this," Tina added, handing Rika a book bag. "There's a first aid kit in there, along with extra candy in case you find a kid who hasn't found any eggs. And there's one other thing." Tina handed Rika a large umbrella. "The most likely emergency that'll happen is that it starts raining."

"But…this umbrella looks like a giant carrot!" Rika wasn't lying: the umbrella had orange, contoured fabric and a green handle.

"It's supposed to look like a carrot."

"But....why??"

"I dunno. We found it in the warehouse for some dot-com company: vegetableaccesories.com."

Rika let out a sigh. "I know I don't want to get mad again, but…you know I hate cute with a passion."

Tina thought for a moment, and then said, "Then we'll switch umbrellas," Tina answered.

"Thanks…" Rika's mouth dropped open as she saw that Tina's folding umbrella was designed to look like a stick of celery. 

But Tina reassured her, "This one is smaller. You can keep it in the bag until it rains, and then it won't look like a vegetable when it's open."

Rika sighed again.

"Rika, you seem too gloomy, now. It's like you've traded being mad for being miserable. You're getting bad for bad. You need to learn to enjoy things."

"I guess you're right."

"Relax," Tina said, hugging Rika, "This might just be your type of humor."

"Humor? You already told me the Easter story; there wasn't anything in it that was funny."

"I tweaked it."

******

Ingrid had never felt more contented in her life: she was snuggled between the two people that she loved and trusted the most: Tina and Natasha. It was too bad that Ingrid didn't know more words: she had to express her extreme joy, and she had very little to work with. So, she invented a new word: "Tinatasha!" Natasha and Tina were both giving Ingrid a lot of attention, which was the thing she prized the most…especially coming from those two.

It was bitterly cold, so the three of them were sharing a blanket for warmth. This only pulled the three of them closer, physically, and that made Ingrid all the more energized. As great as it was that she felt this way, they would have to calm her down for the pageant, so that she wouldn't be a disruption.

They were sitting with a big crowd on a hillside that overlooked a larger, walk-in grave. This grave was covered with cardboard and construction paper that made it look like it was made of dirt and grass rather than carved granite. It was going to be the stage for the pageant.

Hare walked on stage wearing the Sunday vest Tina had given him. He said, in a confident and slightly self-centered tone, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemon! I'm all glad you could come here, today, and that it's such greeeeaaaattt weather!" (To be sure, it was great weather; the sky was overcast and a dark grayish-black, which meant that the luftwaffles were powerless. Also, a cloudy sky meant nothing; it could rain out of clear and cloudy skies alike.) Hare set an absolutely huge hat on a podium in front of him and said, "For my first trick, I will pull a human being out of my hat!" He reached into the hat and pulled out Cody's head.

"What do you think you're _doing_?!" Cody asked.

"What do you mean?"

"This holiday isn't about you! Get out of here!"

Hare sighed heavily, shook his head, and stormed off stage.

Cody climbed the rest of the way out of the hat and said to the audience, "I'm not sure how many of you know anything about Easter, but the rabbit has nothing to do with the Easter story. The companies of Earth capitalized on the Easter traditions and turned a religious holiday into a 50%-off sale.(1)

"The story of Easter involves our God, Jesus Christ. You might think that this is crazy, but He died two days before Easter, and He rose from the dead on Easter. You may be wondering how He died: if He's a God, isn't He immortal? Well, He chose to make Himself mortal, but somehow He could be both God and Human at the same time. Somehow, the way celestial politics were set up at the time, He had to die so that human beings wouldn't be estranged from God, because human beings are evil, and God is good.

"Even though He was an innocent Man, He died a criminal's death. He died one of the worst possible deaths in the history of the world. For nearly a day before He died, He was deprived of sleep and food, and He was beaten a great deal. But the execution itself was a device invented by the Roman Empire: it was called a crux. The crux was a collection of boards that the prisoner was nailed to by the wrists and hung upon. On the crux, the criminal had to go through a lot of exhaustive effort just to breathe, and eventually the criminal would run out of strength and smother. After starving and being beaten and whipped, Jesus was hung on the crux and He died more quickly than most criminals.

"On the day after He died, someone who had followed Jesus' religious teaching asked the judge who had given Jesus' sentence if he could have Jesus' body. The judge gave permission, and they took Jesus' body, cleaned Him off, and took him to a tomb to give Him a proper burial."

As Cody spoke, Davis and Tai were carrying Matt on a stretcher, into the open grave. Matt's entire body was covered with a heavy blanket, except for his arm, which bore the scars of crucifixion for the audience to see.

Davis asked Tai, "Are you _sure_ you want to do this, Joseph? I mean, you had this grave dug out for _your_ family! This Man wasn't related to you at all."

"Hey, He deserves the best! In fact, this Man deserved to die of old age…I take that back: He didn't deserve to die at all."

Davis sighed. "I'll admit _that_ much: He _was_ innocent. But…well…" Davis seemed to run out of words. He just plain stopped talking and continued the burial preparations.

Sora, Kari, and Misty were all dressed in black and looking on at the burial with worry in their eyes. Cody explained, "They were the mourners, and they knew that Jesus' burial preparations were incomplete unless they could apply spices to His body. But none of them had any spices at the time, and it was late---too late to buy any, so they had to go home.

"The following day was another religious holiday, one that happened once a week. It was called The Sabbath, and the people were not supposed to work or buy anything on that day. But the Roman government didn't necessarily follow this Jewish law, so a few of Jesus' enemies went to the judge with another request."

As Cody was speaking, Izzy came on stage right with a large pruning shears over his shoulder. But at the same time, Terrance, Veemon, and Gabumon came in stage left.

Izzy was the gardener of this cemetery in the pageant, so he asked, "Excuse me, but this is my boss's property. Might I inquire the reason for your presence?"

"We're here to seal the tomb and watch it," Gabumon answered.

"What for?"

"To make sure body snatchers don't take the body. The person buried here said that He would rise from the dead tomorrow, and we want to make sure that His followers don't steal the body."

Terrance cut in, with a hint of malicious intent in his voice, "Nobody is going in or out of that grave."

"But…no one has put burial spices on the body! Tomorrow, my boss, Joseph, is going to---"

"This tomb is to be guarded and sealed; you need to get out of the way!"

"My master has permission from Judge Pilate to have the body! It's not your place to---"

"There's a new order from Judge Pilate," Veemon cut in. He handed Izzy a scroll, which he took and read. He gave it back to Veemon in disgust. "All right. I'll tell my boss. But he's going to get the preparations complete; knowing him, he won't let Jesus go un-honored."

As Izzy stormed off stage, Veemon and Gabumon rolled a huge stone in front of the tomb, and Terrance took out a vial of some strange liquid. (Nobody knew it, but the liquid was filled with nanobots, and he was going to use it to vacuum-seal the tomb.) He poured the liquid over the entire edge of the stone, and then left Veemon and Gabumon with their plastic spears to guard the tomb.

Cody went on, "The guards stood there for hours, all day and all night, making sure that Jesus' disciples didn't try to steal His body to make it look like He'd risen from the dead. But no one came…no one that was human, that is…"

T.K. whispered from behind the stage, "Are you ready, Patamon?"

"Let's get this show on the road! **Patamon, digivolve to…Angemon!**"

Veemon and Gabumon looked at Angemon with faked terror, and then both fainted. Angemon then began the process of trying to move the stone at the entrance to the tomb. Thanks to Terrance, this was no easy job: Angemon tried pushing the stone with both hands, and the stone didn't budge. He put his back into the job, trying to push with his legs. The stone still didn't move. Finally, he tried prying the stone out of the way with his staff. His eyes were squeezed shut with effort as he pressed on the staff with all his might, and he felt something give. His staff was slowly but surely moving forward, but he didn't hear the rock moving…he looked, and he saw that he had just bent his staff. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

Seeing that this was an opportunity to help out, Gatomon nudged Cody. "There were _two_ angels!" she whispered.

Cody relayed to the audience, "Two angels appeared, and together, they moved the stone out of the way."

"**Gatomon, digivolve to…Angewomon!**" Angewomon set one hand on the stone, and, after about two seconds of pushing, there was a loud crackling noise, and the stone came loose.

Terrance snarled. _So much for killing Matt! I'll have to do that the old-fashioned way_, he thought to himself.

As he was thinking this, something odd happened: Hare, still dressed in his Sunday best as the Easter Bunny, staggered out of the tomb, gasping for oxygen. "Wouldn't ya know it? I walk in there for fifteen seconds to fix my wedgie, and that's the _exact_ time they have to pick to shut me in and smother me! And I---" Hare looked at Angemon and Angewomon, swooned, and joined Gabumon and Veemon on the ground.

"That's what you get for trying to elbow in on the _real _story!" Angemon shot back.

Cody explained, "The tomb wasn't opened so that Jesus could come out. In fact, He was freed from some of the physical limits that we are bound to: after this happened, He often kind of teleported around. But the real reason that the tomb was opened so that the mourners could see that Jesus was no longer inside.

"Now, the only ones who knew about this were the guards…and they aren't in any condition to tell anyone. So the mourners still thought that Jesus was dead, and that his burial preparations weren't over. So, early in the morning on the first day of the week, they bought perfumes and spices for Jesus' body."

Sora, Kari, and Misty were walking on stage, and Kari said, "Hold on, a minute," to Misty and Sora.

"Salome, what is it?"

"How are we going to get into the tomb? I mean, we know that they had a huge stone for a door to the tomb… How can we put these spices on His body if we can't get in? I don't know if even all of us together have enough strength to move the stone."

Sora looked down at the ground. "You're right…maybe there will be someone around the grave that can help us…there probably won't be, but…" A tear rolled down Sora's face and made a wet dot on the makeshift, cardboard stage.

Kari set her hand on Sora's shoulder. "Mary…we've come this far. There is a way around that stone; we just have to find somebody to help us. Joseph was one of Jesus' followers; he'd let us in if we asked."

Sora nodded and sniffed back the tears. "Let's get this over with, already. I feel like I can't go on, knowing He's gone…"

"That's enough, So---Mary!" Kari spat. "We have a job to do. Let's get to it, already!" Kari half-led and half-dragged Sora to the tomb, and, when she saw it was open, she gasped. Sora looked up at the empty tomb, and she dropped the glass bottle of perfume that was in her hands as she covered her open mouth. The bottle shattered on the ground.

"B…b-body snatchers!" Sora cried. She covered her face and ran off stage, sobbing.

Misty and Kari didn't follow her lead. Instead, they looked into the tomb---and leapt back as they saw Angemon and Angewomon come out. They let out screams of faked fear, but Angemon motioned for them to calm down. "Don't be afraid. We know that you're here looking for Jesus, but He's not here!" Angemon said with an overjoyed chuckle. "See for yourself! He has risen from the dead!"

Kari and Misty were a little hesitant to move at all, let alone enter a tomb.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Angewomon added.

Kari and Misty swallowed hard, and looked into the tomb…and, just as the two angel digimon had said, there was no one inside. The burial shroud that had covered Jesus' face was neatly folded, and the blanket that had been over His body was undisturbed…as if Jesus' body had dissolved into the air.

"But…if the burial clothes were undisturbed, then it couldn't have been grave robbers!" Misty said.

"But then if---" Kari looked back at the angels, and they were gone…vanished.

Misty and Kari looked at each other with terrified, but happy expressions.

Cody said, "Even though they had half a mind to join the guards and the Easter Bunny in being unconscious on the ground, they instead went back and told everyone. The problem was that they were so much in shock that what they were saying was barely coherent, so nobody understood much, except that something strange and earthshaking had happened at Jesus' tomb. There was another problem, too: Mary Magdalene got there first, and she hadn't seen the two angels. She still thought that grave robbers had taken Jesus' body. Half of Jesus' followers thought that Mary and Salome might have gone nuts, but two of them decided to go and see for themselves what had happened. They ran, because they were eager to see this, and they remembered that Jesus had said that He would rise from the dead after the Sabbath."

While Cody had been saying this, Izzy had been cleaning up the broken glass, and, as attention came back to stage, he shrugged and said to the audience, "It's a living, working here."

Willis and Michael ran on stage and looked at the tomb and the fainted guards. Willis arrived first, but he didn't go into the tomb. He stood next to it, panting and looking inside. Michael ran into the tomb, though, and looked at the burial shroud. They both looked puzzled, and stared at the vacant catacomb. After a moment of silence, Willis walked into the tomb with Michael.

Michael said, "John…_John_… What's going on here? Grave robbers wouldn't have gone through the trouble to fold up the cloths…so what happened…?!"

"Well, Peter…hmm…" Willis stood there with a look of vexation, but his look slowly changed into joy and understanding. "It's…true!" he whispered.

"What? Have you figured this out?"

"Yes, I have! He isn't dead, anymore!"

"What?!"

"He is risen! …_He is risen! He's not dead anymore!!_" Willis ran out of the tomb, laughing for joy at this discovery. His feet barely touched the ground, he was so happy.

Michael sighed in frustration. He walked out of the cave just as Sora was coming back. Her look clearly said, "What's with John?"

Michael shook his head. "As if it wasn't enough that this happened, everyone is going crazy, too! First, Salome and Mary, and then John flips his lid!"

"When is the bad news going to _stop_?!" Sora cried, sobbing again.

"I don't know," Michael said, taking Sora into his arms. He tried to shush her crying. "None of this makes _any_ sense; I know…this is going to take forever to sort out." After a pause, he added, "Maybe time will help. Maybe they'll get over this mass hysteria and things can go back to normal, again."

"You mean back to the way things were before Jesus came into our lives?" Sora shook her head. "Before I met Jesus, I was demon-posessed. Those demons…you don't know what they can do to your mind. They---"

"I don't want to hear about it any more than you want to go through that, again. But we have to face reality."

Mary sobbed again. "What do we do _now_?!"

"I'll try talking some sense into John…and getting the other followers to do the same. We _can_ work through this."

"I just wish I could see Him again."

"Wishing does you no good. What you wish or think doesn't change the truth. That's a hard fact, but it's true."

Sora nodded and sat down on a gravestone, crying.

As Michael exited the stage, Cody cut in, "As true as Peter's words were, his perception of the truth was…well, it was a little less than accurate. Mary was about to find this out…"

Matt crept onto the stage behind Sora. "Excuse me, miss, but why are you crying?"

Cody said, "She didn't recognize Him right away."

Sora looked up. "You're…one of Joseph's servants, aren't you? …And, if you're not worried about the open tomb, then you must've had something to do with it being empty."

"I do have something to do with it being empty---"

Sora let out a sigh of relief and stood up, drying her tears. She chuckled in embarrassment at how she had been crying over nothing. She was walking aimlessly and looking at the ground as she talked. "That explains everything. Joseph must've ordered that the body be moved to another tomb. You don't know how worried we were when we saw the tomb empty---we thought body snatchers had taken Him away. And I was so scared, I dropped the perfume I bought for Him. I guess I'll have to buy another bottle…it's too bad; that stuff was expensive. I cleaned out my whole savings to buy it. But I bet I can get a loan from a friend to get more---"

Matt interrupted her: "Mary."

Sora froze in her tracks, with her eyes as wide as saucers. She was too afraid to turn around.

After a long pause, Matt said, "Mary, It's Me."

Sora turned around, shaking like a leaf. Her mouth dropped open and tears continued to roll down her face. "_J-Jesus_!" she whispered. "T-Teacher? Jesus? I-is is really _You_?!"

"I told you It was Me."

She fell face down and grabbed Him around the ankles, sobbing for joy.

"Mary," Matt said, kneeling down to her and laying a hand on her shoulder, "Don't hold on to me. I'm not here for this. I'm going back to Heaven, body-and-all, and to my Father, God." He sighed at her misunderstanding. "Mary…you need to go and tell everyone what's happened. Tell them that I am going back to my Father and their Father, to my God and their God."

Sora looked up at Him, still shaking out of fear and crying.

"Go," Matt said, gently but firmly.

Sora dashed off stage in a mess of tears and heavy breathing. Matt watched her go, and his look was pure concern. But this wasn't Jesus' concern for Mary Magdalene: this was Matt's concern for Sora. He wondered if she wasn't faking all the panic and tears that were so apparent in her act…

(1) This is at least true of America. As for the rest of the world, I don't know. I would imagine that there are no Easter sales in Saudi Arabia, for example. 


	35. Chapter 34: The Disguise is Dropped

WARNING: Vitamin-C fortification is not over, yet. ("C" stands for Christian.) 

Chapter 34: The Disguise Is Dropped!

Tina milled around the cemetery with Ingrid holding her hand. She and the rest of the volunteers were wandering around the cemetery, following children as they looked for the candy that she and Hare and Natasha had hidden the day before. She bumped into Sora as she was walking, and she nudged her. "Hey, that was a great performance. It was almost too real, the way you were crying as Mary Magdalene! Forget a company president: you have a promising career ahead of you in acting!"

Sora looked at the ground, still wearing the black mourner's clothes. Another tear fell from her face and made a wet spot on the gravestone beneath her feet.

Looking at the spot, Tina thought that Sora had looked down to see if the gravestone was getting wet to see if it was raining. Tina took off her glove and opened her hand to the sky…not a drop. And yet the gravestone was getting speckled with drops of water. "Does it feel like it's raining, to you?"

"That's not rain," Sora sobbed.

Tina's mouth dropped open as she saw that there was something that was bothering Sora…a _lot_. Out of sheer pity, Tina lunged for Sora and hugged her tightly. (She had been used to lunging at orphans who were crying in the orphanage.) Sora only sobbed harder, knowing that her secret pain was now known by somebody else. There was nothing but silence for a while, only broken by, "Hey, five more Easter eggs!" from another child.

Tina whispered, "What is it? What's bothering you?"

Sora shook her head.

"You've got to tell me! You've got to tell somebody! I don't want to see you snap!"

"No…_please_," Sora whispered. She was too shy to open up, and too gentle to push Tina away.

"You don't understand…it doesn't have to be me that you tell, but you need to talk to somebody about what's bothering you."

"It's…it's nothing, I…"

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be so scared."

Sora looked at the ground. "We're dead."

"…No, we're not!"

"Yes, we _are_!"

"We can't be. If---"

"Tina, you weren't there when those menace machines attacked the nuke plant." The pain was cutting Sora's heart so badly that she had to sit down on a gravestone. "They were eating the refugees, and I watched while Birdramon and Shakkoumon were fighting, and I was helpless…I couldn't do anything to keep them from dying like that."

"Sora, it wasn't your fault that that happened," Tina insisted, sitting next to Sora.

"I know, but if we can't stop that from happening, then it's useless!"

"We can't save them all, but that's not stopping us. There's something else that Cody never mentioned about the Easter story. Let me explain: Jesus died so that we could be saved from hell. But not _everyone_ is saved from hell."

"I don't need to hear about something even worse than what I saw---"

"You're missing the point, Sora! Jesus didn't save everyone, either… But some of us are saved…better some than none. And the people Jesus saves…He keeps them going. We should do the same thing." Tina picked Ingrid up off the ground and set her on her lap. "I always have to keep a smile on my face so that she won't lose hope. So why don't you at least try to do the same thing?"

"Because I can't!" Sora started crying again, and covered her face.

Tina was at the end of her rope. She began wondering what she could say or do to make Sora feel better. She looked down at her lap…and saw Ingrid climbing onto Sora's lap. Ingrid began to treat Sora the way she had seen Tina treat the other, crying orphans in the orphanage. (In a planet where man-eating robots ruled, it wasn't uncommon for the children to start crying for no apparent reason.) She began with a long hug, and then started crying, herself, to sympathize with Sora. After a little while, she wiped off her own tears, wiped off Sora's, and looked into her eyes. "Yo' go-o' be okay!" she said.

"…W-what?"

"Yo' go-o' be okay!"

Tina whispered, "You're going to be okay."

Sora swallowed hard as the molecules in her soul began to change.

"Yo' go-o' be okay!" Ingrid insisted, just as lovingly as Tina.

"I'm going…to be…okay…"

"Yo' go-o' be okay."

"I'm going to be okay."

"Yo' go-o' be okay."

"I'm gonna be okay!"

"Yo' go-o' be ok-_AY_!"

Sora giggled, and Ingrid giggled with her. Ingrid finished off her treatment with a kiss on Sora's cheek, and then climbed back into Tina's arms.

"Thank you," Sora whispered to Tina, and then to Ingrid.

"Yo' go-o' be ooookay!" Ingrid answered.

Sora got up and began milling around the cemetery, again, keeping close to children, in case it started to rain.

"You know…that was good," Tina said to Ingrid.

"Go-od!" Ingrid answered.

"And it deserves a reward," Tina added, handing Ingrid an Easter egg.

Just as she finished the egg, a shower of rain instantly started. "Hello!" Tina shouted, opening her carrot. She whistled for the children to come to her, and she got more of a gaggle than her umbrella had room for. "Go over to Sora and Rika…they don't have anybody. They need more people."

This wasn't the only problem they had: The Unnamed Figure was back.

"Oh, it figures it's you," Tina said. "A big rain cloud is always following you around."

"Very funny, Tina. But it's my turn to laugh, now! **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**"

Yolei came running up next to Tina. "Honey, get away from that guy!"

"I'm heading away, believe me!"

"Hawkmon, I hope you're ready to rumble!"

"I indubitably am!" she answered. "**Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**" Altairmon flew up at Nekhbetmon and the two immediately began to tangle.

"Them up there, and us down here!" The Unnamed Figure said.

"Forget it!" Biyomon shouted as she and Sora ran up to the fight. "Spiral Twister!"

The Unnamed Figure dodged out of the way of the blast of green fire. "You know, your stuffed bird is starting to irritate me," he said to Sora.

"She's not a stuffed bird!" Sora shot back. "A stuffed animal can't hurt you, but _she_ sure can!"

"_I wouldn't count in on it!_" The Unnamed Figure answered. He opened up his cloak, revealing that the clothes he wore beneath it were the same clothes than Terrance had been wearing. But there was an even more startling revelation: that he could hide a champion-level Blackgatomon in the folds of his cloak.

"Darkening Claw!" Blackgatomon shouted, hurling black bolts of lighting at Biyomon. Biyomon fell to the ground.

"Oh! Biyomon!" Sora shouted, picking up her fallen friend.

"Lightning Claw!" Gatomon answered, squarely hitting Blackgatomon. Blackgatomon went flying into a mud puddle, but it didn't seem to protest at all at the mud. Gatomon would have found the mud disgusting, and it occurred to Gatomon that there was a big difference between herself and this copy. Gatomon was keeping her fur neat and dry under her poncho, while this clone of her wasn't doing anything at all to keep clean or good-looking.

And yet there was a parallel: both of them had---at one time, at least---lived and worked for evil. Maybe Blackgatomon could be convinced to reform itself, too?

But there wasn't time to think about that: Gatomon found herself in a tough fight with a copy of herself.

"Cursed Path!" Blackgatomon shouted, stomping her bare foot on the ground and sending a green bolt of lightning across the ground at Gatomon.

"Step of Cat!" The two attacks looked at first like they would cancel out, but Blackgatomon's attack power was higher than Gatomon's. Gatomon leapt out of the way of the attack and into one of the cemetery trees.

"Darkening Claw!" Gatomon leapt to another branch. "Darkening Claw!" Gatomon leapt to still another branch. "Darkening Claw!" Gatomon climbed out of sight of Blackgatomon. "This isn't working!" Blackgatomon complained.

"You can say that again!" Tai said as he ran to the scene. "You think you can walk into one of our events and just ruin everything? Well, guess again!"

"Okay, here's my second guess: Yes, I _can_ ruin your day in the sun! **Digi-modify! DNA Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Nekhbetmon!**"

"**Blackgatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Silphymon!**" Silphymon stretched out its hands. "Marsh Sprites!" A collection of vines and twigs jumped up from the ground and entangled the Digidestined and their digimon.

"Not so fast!" Hare shouted. "Dragon Kick!" He went sailing at a few of the vines and broke Kari free.

Kari ran to Yolei. "Yolei, your digivice! We've got to DNA digivolve!"

"**Altairmon!**"

"**Gatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Swampangemon!**" Swampangemon flew down at Silphymon. "I hope you're ready for a fight!"

"That I am! Astro Laser!"

"Static Pulse!" The two shots cancelled out.

The Unnamed Figure sneered. "I'll fix this! **Digi-modify! Firepower, activate!**"

"This isn't good!" Hare said, continuing to burn the vines off the Digidestined. "I think we'll need more fighters against this guy!"

"More they shall have!" Tai said, getting his digivice hand free of the vines.

"**Agumon, digivolve to…Greymon!** Nova Blast!"

"Lily Umbrage!" Silphymon answered, putting a shield between itself and the flame. "Astro Laser!" it shouted back, throwing a green blast of energy back at him.

Greymon jumped out of the way, but the attack dug into the ground and made a crater big enough to make a swimming pool. "This doesn't look so good, Tai!"

"The looks of it are about to change! Greymon, digivolve!"

"**Greymon, digivolve to…Metalgreymon!**" Metalgreymon looked at Silphymon with determination and focus. "Giga blaster!" he shouted, firing a pair of torpedoes at it.

"Static pulse!" Swampangemon joined in the attack.

"Lily Umbrage!" Silphymon insisted, and the attacks didn't touch it.

"This is getting old," Metalgreymon sighed.

"Flank her!" Swampangemon suggested.

"Right!" Metalgreymon took off to the left while Swampangemon took off to the right.

Unfortunately, Silphymon knew this one. "Astro Laser!" it shouted, firing at Metalgreymon. The shot hit him squarely, and he regressed back down to Agumon. It kept its shield between itself and Swampangemon, in the meanwhile.

As it turned around, it felt a jab on its face and felt its shield get yanked out of its hands. "I've had enough of you; you're going _down_! ** Swampangemon, mode-change to…giga mode!**" Swampangemon looked down at her doppelganger. "How do things look now, Tai?"

"Not bad, I'd have to say!"

"Wrong-o!" Silphymon answered, growing itself to a size even bigger than Swampangemon. In a terrible, demonic voice, it sang, "♪♫Any-thing you can be, I can be greater; I can do any-thing better than you! ♫"

Swampangemon shouted back, half not-realizing that she was continuing the song, "No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

Swampangemon didn't shout "No, you can't!" In fact, she didn't say anything, and seemed to shrink into disappearing.

"Wha---?! Hey, I'm supposed to be a better version of her! How come **_I_** can't disappear?!" she complained down to Walt.

"We'll have to have those responsible terminated, won't we?"

Swampangemon buttoned up her slicker and pulled up the hood. "This is going to get messy," she warned herself. She was in her micro mode, and Silphymon was in its giga mode, so she was practically microscopic compared to her clone. She flew into its ear, trying to keep away from the walls, where disgusting-looking earwax lay built-up. "Fits in with everything else about this thing!" Swampangemon muttered to herself. "Disgusting, sick, and---_ack_!" Silphymon must have turned its head, because Swampangemon felt herself get pasted to the wall---right into the thick of the wax.

"Oooo… That does it! Static Pulse!" Swampangemon fired into the wall of the ear.

Outside of Silphymon's body, it looked as though the giant digi-clone was suddenly wrestling with its own head. A beam of orange light burst out of its face, and everyone began to get the idea that Swampangemon was up to something.

Silphymon returned to its original size, as did Swampangemon. Brushing the smudge of earwax off her sleeve that had once been big enough to engulf her, she sneered, "So much for _you_! …And _ you're _not getting off the hook, either!" she added, looking at The Unnamed Figure.

"Don't count on it! **Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Silphymon, mega-digivolve to…**" 


	36. Chapter 35: The Next Trick

Chapter 35: The Next Trick

"**Silphymon, mega-digivolve to…Rainmyotismon!**" Rainmyotismon was as genderless as any digi-clone, but it had the appearance of a very inadequately dressed human woman. Its body was covered in a clear raincoat, and the only things covering it from the eyes were three blue feathers that stuck around its back. One of its hands was a huge talon, and, in the other hand, it held an umbrella with an unpromising-looking trigger on its handle.

"Rainmyotismon?" Sora asked. "That doesn't sound too good!"

"I'm fed up with this weather, myself!" Youngdramon answered. "And I usually _enjoy _it!"

"Can you digivolve?" Sora asked Biyomon.

"I don't think I can, no," Biyomon croaked.

"It wouldn't matter if you could," The Unnamed Figure grinned, coming closer in to his digimon. "You're toast, either way. Show them what you can do, Rainmyotismon!"

Rainmyotismon opened its umbrella over itself and The Unnamed Figure. "Tsunami Monsoon!" it shouted, and immediately a flood-like downpour started. There was almost no visibility; they could only see a few meters outside the radius of Rainmyotismon's umbrella. But what they did see was that the watery attack was eroding away at the topsoil, and had already killed the grass around them. It was a wonder that they didn't drown themselves.

Eventually, curiosity won out. Rainmyotismon abated its attack a little to see what how the heroes were faring…and it saw one other digimon. It looked like a cross between an angel and a firefighter; its long raincoat was striped with reflective strips. It held a huge key in one hand and a chain in the other hand. Underneath its four wings, there were huddled a half-dozen orphans.

"What are _you_?!" Rainmyotismon snarled.

"The _name_ is Abyssangemon, and I'm Swampangemon's mega form, but what I really _am_ is your worst nightmare."

"Ha! You haven't _nearly_ seen all my attacks! Magma Storm!" Rainmyotismon's watery attack ceased around Abyssangemon, but not anywhere else. The water was replaced by burning flecks of lava.

Abyssangemon's coat and wings were both fireproof, so the attack didn't hurt her or the children at all. In fact, it only served to warm up the freezing air around them. "Would you believe that actually feels _good_?" Abyssangemon asked.

"Then get a load of this! Acid Cloudburst!"

This next attack was equally ineffective, and just put a bad smell in the air. Abyssangemon said nothing, but impatiently tapped her foot on the ground.

"_Fine_! I'll show you who's the biggest fish in this pond!" Rainmyotismon stopped the rain attacks around itself altogether, and morphed its umbrella into a double-barreled rifle. "You're going down, now! Crimson ray!"

Abyssangemon's key glowed, and a heat rod extended out of the end of it. "Flaming Sword!" she answered, reflecting the magenta beam right back into Rainmyotismon's face. "That does it! I'm sick of you; time to end this once-and-for-all! Manacle Blaster!" She swung her chain at Rainmyotismon, and a bolt of pink lightning flew at it. It found itself instantly entangled in chains. "Justice Portal!" Abyssangemon swung her sword in a circle, and, similar to Magnaangemon's Gate of Destiny, a vortex opened in front of her. Rainmyotismon felt itself get sucked into the vortex, but it also felt something catch it. It looked, and it could see Paildramon's outline in the downpour outside.

"Paildramon, what are you doing?" Abyssangemon asked.

She saw Paildramon aim at her and fire. She was quick enough to deflect the shot away, but she also saw that the shot was orange, not blue: this wasn't Paildramon.

Indramon shouted, "Will you stop this rain, already, so that I can be invisible, again?"

"It's too bad, really…" Rainmyotismon sighed. "Oh, well…at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I drowned them all…"

"No,"

"You,"

"Don't!" Three dragon-like heads stuck out of the mist of rain that hid the heroes' fate from view. One head had said each of the three words as it stuck out.

Bewildered, Rainmyotismon ceased the attack, only to find that Youngdramon had digivolved up to Hydramon, and was covering everyone with her wings from her Tsunami Monsoon.

Rainmyotismon roared in anger. "I'll get my revenge on you for this!"

"Oh, _really_?! Hydra Blaster!" Hydramon's three heads all spat beams of energy at Indramon and Rainmyotismon. Rainmyotismon felt the attacks damage its body.

"Looks like they need a hand," Renamon said.

"You're perfect for the job," Rika agreed, searching for her gold card…but it wasn't there! "Huh? But…it was right here last night!"

"You lost the warp-digivolving card?"

"Looks like I did, yeah…"

"Then _I'll_ take this one, if-you-don't-mind!" Hare said, hoping to impress Renamon, again. "Davis! You have the digi-egg of courage?"

"It's right here, Hare! Knock yourself out!"

"**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**" Firabbit started shooting at Rainmyotismon. He also shot its rifle away so that it wouldn't be able to fire back. Indramon took pot-shots back at them, too, but Firabbit knocked them away with Bludgeon Blade.

"We have to make sure that thing de-digivolves and go back down to Blackgatomon and Jaymon!" Yolei shouted. "If we don't, they'll regroup and attack again!"

"And they're getting away!" Firabbit said, reflecting another shot away.

Brock tossed out a pokéball. "Crobat, try to distract them! Use Supersonic attack!"

Indramon covered its ears from the noise. "Ugh! Will you stop that thing, already?!" it shouted to The Unnamed Figure.

"That I will! Magneton, use Thundershock!" Magneton zapped Brock's flying pokémon out of the air.

"Ack! Crobat, return!"

"These guys really don't want to stop," Firabbit said.

"And we _have_ to stop them, and we have to _now_!" Kari moaned.

"I have one idea," Brock said.

"Is it crazy?" Tina asked.

"Not very, no."

"Too bad."

Brock pulled his fire stone out of his pocket. "Let's see what this does for advanced Monsters!" He threw it at Firabbit. "Firabbit, catch!"

Firabbit caught the stone, all right, and he felt a strange surge of energy race through his matrix. The stone fell to the ground as his hands changed into weapons. "**Mega Flame Cannons!**" he shouted, firing a pair of huge fireballs at Rainmyotismon. Both shots squarely hit it, but---like most digi-clones---it took more punishment than usual to bring it down. Firabbit picked up the stone a second time, felt that same energy surge, and fired again. That did it: Rainmyotismon regressed back to Blackgatomon and Jaymon. Unfortunately, Indramon was left to be dealt with.

"After two attacks like that, I'd think that you'd be so tired that you'd lose your module-evolution," Abyssangemon said, keeping her eyes on Indramon.

"Actually, no," he answered. "In fact, I think I got more energy out of that than I put in!"

The Unnamed Figure snarled. "I've had enough of this! Indramon, get me out of here! These pests aren't worth my bother!"

Abyssangemon and Firabbit took pot-shots at him as he left, but didn't take Indramon down.

"Do we follow him?" Firabbit asked.

Abyssangemon shook her head. "It might _ just_ be a trap. It's not worth the risk."

"Yeah…but who was he?"

******

"Well, _that_ certainly went well!" Ewemon said.

Out of anger and rage, The Unnamed Figure kicked Blackgatomon. "You're useless! And you're no better, Jaymon! With this failure stacked on top of all the others, I'll never get back into the Empire!"

"But you know where their base is!" Maggotmon pointed out.

"Sure…I tell the Sub-major where the base is one time, and then my usefulness is over. _Then_ he'll hand me the Linonian idea of a pink slip: the electric chair!"

"But isn't your infiltration enough to convince him you're worth his time?"

"Not if it takes two weeks for me to get the information!"

"You can blame the delay on a time anomaly," Blackgatomon pointed out, nursing its wounds.

"_No_…I can't appear before the Empire empty-handed." He sat down and buried his hands in his pockets. But his fingers wrapped around an object in his pocket…it was flat and rectangular. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked it over. It was the warp-digivolving card. His despairing frown turned into an evil sneer, and he nodded as he said, "Then again…I _won't_ be empty-handed…!"


	37. Chapter 36: Reprecusions

Chapter 36: Repercussion

"…I can't believe that Terrance was really that guy with the cloak!" Tina said, rubbing her forehead.

"It's true," Yolei said. "I saw: he had the exact same clothes as Terrance did under his cloak, and he was the same build."

"Then…but if he's the enemy and he knows where our bases are…!!"

"We've got to get everyone out of there. We'll start by relocating the orphans. But how can we get them all out of here…?"

"Is this a trick question?" Tina asked, looking at Veemon and Wormmon.

Imperialdramon beamed the children into his force field and flew off to find a new location. "But where _can_ we hide the children?"

Tina cut in, "I remember seeing a place during seek patrol. It's a college campus with all kinds of tunnels running beneath it. I don't think that the underbirds' sonar could penetrate the walls of the tunnels."

"Is it big enough?" Yolei asked.

"I think so…but how would we handle our other base?"

"I was about to ask you that."

******

"You're late."

"…_Am_ I?"

"Your tardiness is extreme, given the situation."

"I…I must have found an unmapped time distortion---"

"Have the mapping staff terminated," the sub-major said to one of his attendants. "I expect a report on how _exactly_ the _kugvia-tor-lelawo_ fell."

"A programming flaw: when I gave a steering command, it activated the self-destruct system, and there was no way to shut it down. Then the Digidestined evolved their digimon to a level beyond mega, fired on the _kugvia-tor-lelawo_, and they thought that they caused its destruction."

"Have the programming staff terminated---bar those on the D-Gauntlet project."

"But there is one thing: we won't have a great chance against them if they digivolve beyond mega, again."

"I was already aware of that. We have not told you this because we did not wish for anxiety to distract you from your work. But we are intending to create a copy of the very digimon you met. It will require three components to accomplish this, and we have one: Gabumon's DNA. The other two are a means by which your digi-clones can evolve to their mega forms and Agumon's DNA."

"You've just got part two," The Unnamed Figure answered, holding up the warp-digivolving card. "I stole it from their base."

The sub-major grinned. "Then you know where their base is?"

"Yes, I do."

"You must tell us. But first, I should inform you that your digi-clones of Blackgatomon and Jaymon are in need of a refit. You may take these as replacements." Out of the shadows came a pair of digi-clones…another copy of Patamon and another of Armadillomon.

"These again? They couldn't take the heat before."

"We made a few modifications that I'm sure you'll be eager to hear of…"

******

Tracy and Ash stood up against the wall as they heard more saberstrikes pass by. "So…to we take 'em down, or wait 'em out?" Ash asked.

"If we destroy them, then they won't be killing people. It's our job to keep the population at large safe, ergo, we kill them."

"Okay…here goes nothing: Tyranitar, I choose you!"

"Are you sure this is such a great idea, Ash? I mean, Tyranitar isn't the friendliest pokémon around."

"He's one of the most powerful, though. Tyranitar, use---never mind…" Tyranitar didn't even wait for Ash's command. It attacked the saberstrikes without mercy, and their sonic attacks weren't doing much to help them defeat it.

"Ash, he's out-of-control!"

"If anything goes wrong, I'll call him back!"

It was at this exact moment that another three-year-old child wandered onto the scene.

"Oh, gimme a break!" Ash shouted, watching as the child came closer and closer to the fight. "Tyranitar, return!"

"Let me try, Ash! Scizor, I choose you! Use Fury Cutter!" Scizor began making scrap metal out of the saberstrikes, but the battle wasn't much less dangerous for the kid.

"One of us has to go for the kid, Ash!"

"That'll be me. Pidgeot, Primeape, I choose you!" Ash jumped onto Pidgeot's back. "Primeape, you keep us covered! Pidgeot, use whirlwind to clear a path to that boy!" Pidgeot flew in low to try and get to the child, but it felt a sonic attack rip through its body. Ash fell off his bird and skinned his elbow. "Pidgeot, Sand-Attack!" Ash raced through the clouds of sand to the boy, picked him up, and ran further away from the fight. "Pidgeot, Primeape, return! Charizard, I choose you!" Charizard flew out of its pokéball and roared. "Tracy, call back Scizor: he won't be able to stand this attack! Charizard, end this battle, fast! Fire Spin!" A tornado of flame overheated the saberstrikes, and they all shut down.

Breathing heavily, Ash looked down at the boy he'd just saved. "You know, it's not all that smart to walk right into a situation where you're about to be killed."

The boy said nothing.

"Where are your parents?"

"I haven't seen them for hours."

"Then you saw them today?"

"I think so."

"Great. Tracy!" Ash shouted. "We've got a new problem!"

"What's that?"

"We have to find this kid's parents." Ash turned back to the boy. "Where did you see them, last?"

"I don't know…I think I'm lost."

"Great…looks like we have our work cut out for us."

"I saw I lion," the boy said after a pause, proud of his sight.

"Was it made of metal?"

"No, he was furry and yellow, and he had all black stripes on him."

"Great. A tiger escaped from the zoo, too," Ash muttered.

"Tigers don't have hair, though. This guy did. And he had a storm cloud on his back."

"He _what_?" Tracy asked. "Ash, that sounds exactly like Raikou."

"Raikou? What's that?"

"It's a pokémon, Ash. The legendary pokémon of thunder."

"Funny…but that reminds me: I caught that Tyranitar on _this_ planet: not on our version of Earth. Here, there aren't supposed to be and wild pokémon. Just digimon."

"So pokémon somehow came to this parallel universe?"

"Somehow, yeah. Misty caught a Suicune, earlier, too."

"Wow…just to see that Raikou would be enough to make me famous! I've got to sketch it!"

"I'd be more interested in catching it," Ash said.

"Ka_chu_!" Pikachu spat.

"Not that I don't have the best electric pokémon around, already…where did you see this lion?"

"Over there," the boy answered, pointing to an alleyway. "I just came out here to tell somebody. I was gonna tell those dinosaurs about it."

"They wouldn't have understood you. But we'd like to see it, too."

"Come on!" The boy ran to the alleyway.

"Wait! Don't race ahead!" He didn't listen. Ash and Tracy called back their pokémon and ran after him.

"Boy, you two are slowpokes. He was right here, a minute ago, but he ran that way," the boy said, pointing up the side of a building.

"Then let's get after them! Heracross, Charizard, I choose you! See if you can't fly us up to the roof!"

When they reached the top, they saw Raikou---but only long enough for it to run away. "After it, Heracross and Charizard!" They flew through the streets after Raikou, trying to corner it.

"This is amazing!" Tracy said. "I can't believe that I'm actually sketching Raikou, running away from us!"

"He sure doesn't want to fight," Ash said.

"The legendary cats tend to be really shy, Ash. If they see a human being, they run for it."

"What if they see a cybertooth?" Ash asked. Raikou was hit in the side by a huge sphere of red energy: the signature attack of a cybertooth.

"Cybertooths are really dangerous, Ash. We shouldn't try to take him."

"Tyranitar can take him down!"

"Ash, no!" Tracy was too late: Ash threw out Tyranitar's pokéball. Tyranitar roared at the Cybertooth.

"Kin Non!" The cybertooth shouted, firing a blast of flame at Tyranitar. The flames did little damage to his rocky skin.

"Tyranitar, use Rock Slide!" Tyranitar didn't listen: it used Crunch attack, and bit down on the cybertooth's neck. That didn't do much damage to the cybertooth. "Tyranitar, come on!"

"Ash, we have a bigger problem!" Tracy shouted: Raikou was crippled, and couldn't move away from the fight. But it was terrified, and it didn't trust Ash and Tracy to help it.

"Then we'll just have to catch it! Snorlax, I choose you! Use mega punch on him!" Snorlax struck Raikou with a glowing fist, and Raikou felt it. But Raikou returned fire: Snorlax fell paralyzed from a Thunder Wave attack.

"Let's try the pokéball, now! Pokéball, go!" Raikou couldn't move out of the way as Ash's pokéball engulfed it. But it could struggle, and it tried and tried to break out of the pokéball---and succeeded. It roared in defiance at Ash. "Aw, great!"

"Ash, he's getting mad!"

"I know, but he can't do much!"

"I mean Tyranitar!"

"Huh?" Tyranitar was on the war path more than ever. It had trashed the cybertooth, and was now going after Raikou. "Tyranitar! Stop!"

Tyranitar turned and roared at Ash.

Pikachu snorted. "Ka _pi_, pika chu Pika-pi!"

"Did he just insult me?" Ash asked Pikachu.

Pikachu nodded.

"That does it. Tyranitar, return!" Tyranitar jumped out of the way of the pokéball's beam. "Tyranitar, I don't want you killing Raikou! Return!" Tyranitar refused to be quelled. "What is this about? Do you think I'm not worth your time?"

Tyranitar snarled back.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Well, get a load of this!" Ash opened up his jacket and showed Tyranitar fifteen gleaming badges. "See how many gyms I've beaten? I don't know about you, but I think that it's a pretty good number. Still think I'm not worth your time?"

Tyranitar seemed to be weighing the options in its head. But it didn't decide in time: it felt a drop of water on its nose.

"Ash, it's starting to rain."

"---And rock pokémon don't like water. Tyranitar, return." Tyranitar went back into its pokéball _this _time.

There was a loud thunderclap, and the three-year-old gripped Tracy's hand. "This is even worse, Ash, since a lightning storm will make Raikou all the more powerful!"

"And with a broken leg, he'll be all the more ready to use that power on _us_!" Ash fished a raincoat for the child out of his backpack, and he pulled out another pokéball. "I just hope his attack will be strong enough, but not too strong. Tauros, I choose you! Use Earthquake!" Tauros sent a jolt along the ground that threw Raikou off its feet. The landing was even more painful, given its broken leg. Raikou paralyzed Tauros, too, and Ash called back both pokémon. "Tracy, I'm worried that another attack of _any_ kind will finish him off!"

"That's where I come in. Scizor, use False Swipe!"

"What's False Swipe?" Ash asked as Scizor flew in to attack.

"Basically, it will always leave a pokémon with a little bit of energy---just enough so that it's alive to be caught."

"Perfect idea, Tracy," Ash said, pulling up his hood. "So now…are _you_ going to try and catch it?"

"You bet, Ash. And I have just the thing for the occasion." Tracy pulled a yellow-and-black pokéball out of his pocket.

"Whoa, an Ultra Ball!"

"This thing will make it tougher for Raikou to escape. Now, here goes nothing! Ultra ball, go!" Tracy hurled the pokéball at the injured Raikou, and Raikou struggled to get out of the pokéball's grip. But it was no use: Raikou just didn't have the strength to get out, and it gave in to the bondage of the ball.

"Whoa…wait until Gary hears about this!" Tracy said.

"He'll be jealous!"

"And you're not?"

"…Okay, so I am. But, hey…I don't lack an electric pokémon in my team!"

Pikachu stuck its head out of Ash's collar. "Pi-_KA_!" it said, and then hid back inside when it felt a drop of rain hit its nose.

Thunder rolled again, and the boy in Tracy's arms let out a loud sob.

"It's just thunder. Nothing to be afraid of," Ash said. A light pole about two blocks away was suddenly hit with lightning. "…Okay, so maybe it is…"

"Let's get indoors, already!" Tracy shouted.

"How are we going to find his parents, now?" Ash asked, shutting the door behind them as they entered a store. 

"I don't know, Ash…but, if I were one of them, I'd look for someplace where I know he'd wander to."

"And he wandered straight into a fight of saberstrikes, so---if we weren't right there next to him---he'd probably wander straight into the fight with Raikou, too!"

"And Raikou sure made some noise, so they'd be coming around here about…_now_," Tracy said, looking out at a bewildered couple looking around for their son. Tracy led the child out towards the door, but felt a yank back on his hand.

"I don't wanna go back out there!"

"You won't have to. If your mommy and daddy see you, then they'll come here."

"Can't they see me now?"

"No: it's too dark in here. Come on."

The child shook his head. Tracy sighed. He let go of the child's hand and shouted out to the family, "Hey! You two! Are you looking for a child with a red t-shirt and khakis?"

"Yes! Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he's in here!"

The mother ran up to Tracy and began whacking him with her purse. "Kidnapper! Scoundrel! I wish they still allowing hangings in Japan! You---"

"Having your usual charming effect, Tracy?" Ash asked.

"Mommy!" the three-year-old shouted, running into his mother's arms. She grabbed him up and held him so tightly, she could have smothered him.

Nursing his purse-bruises, Tracy continued, "…As I was saying, I---"

The mother began whacking Tracy again.

"Uh, honey," the father said, "I don't think he's asking for ransom."

"Why not?" the mother asked, still not stopping her assault.

"Because his friend didn't do anything when our son ran up to us."

"…Oh…"

The situation went from dangerous to embarrassing. Tracy was reluctant to mention that there was a base back in the storm sewers, where they would be safe, but he did, and they agreed to come with him…after the storm was over, that is.

They passed the Jacqueline-Keeves Institute on their way, and they were in for a horrible shock…

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This chapter was kind of long…shoot. I get an idea, and I just have to keep it going.


	38. Chpater 37: Anything You Can Do

Chapter 37: Anything You Can Do…

"**Digi-modify!**** Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

"**Digi-modify!**** DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Pestilimon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Eindramon!**"

"Great, _this_ guy, again!" Ash sighed. "Kingler, Noctowl, I choose you!"

"What do you think he's here for, Ash?" Tracy asked, referring to The Unnamed Figure.

"I don't know, but he won't be able to do it if we stop him once-and-for-all!"

The Unnamed Figure sneered. "You'll see what I'm up to in due time---_or not_! Eindramon, go to stealth mode and keep these two busy. I have work to do."

"**Eindramon, mode-change to…stealth mode!**"

Eindramon was once again invisible to the naked eye. But Ash knew what to do: "Noctowl, use confusion!" A field of blue light showed where Eindramon was, despite its stealth mode. "Now, Kingler, use Hyper Beam on it!" Kingler fired his deadly attack at Eindramon and dealt damage. "Tracy, you've got to figure out what he's up to! Go after him! Kingler will cover you."

"Eindramon will be able to take a lot of what you're dishing out, and someone has to protect the family!"

"There's all kinds of stuff in the JK Institute, Tracy! He could be after _anything_---or _everything_, for that matter! Somebody _has_ to stop him, and, if you don't, who will?"

******

"What're _you_ here for?" Terriermon asked.

"You think you can just barge in here whenever you feel like it?" June asked.

"We're doing an important experiment!" Gary snarled.

"So am I: how much can smoke can a human being inhale and still live?" The Unnamed Figure dropped a smoke bomb on the ground.

Covering his mouth, Gary shouted, "Fearow, blow the smoke away with Whirlwind!" When the smoke cleared, The Unnamed Figure was still searching Cleaver's lab for something.

"Big mistake, not making yourself scarce! Bunny Blast!" Terriermon shouted, spitting a green fireball at him.

The Unnamed Figure pressed another button on his gauntlet, made a force field appear around his hand, and absorbed the shot completely. "I'm not leaving without the secret to Co-op digivolution!"

"Let's see you steal it with us around!"

"Okay…let's! Murkrow, Magneton, Sneasel, Houndoom! Watch my back while I download some software!"

"Jynx, Arcanine, Jolteon! Try and break up his party!" Gary turned around. "Cleaver, June, go outside. Get help!" He added in a whisper, "And, if you find another trainer, you know what to do."

June nodded. 

Henry said, "You're not staying out of this fight, Terriermon! **Digi-modify! Upgrade, activate!**"

Terriermon joined Gary's pokémon in fighting The Unnamed Figure's quartet, while June dashed up the stairs with Tibemon.

"You think he'll erase all Cleaver's work?" Tibemon asked.

"Gary's smart enough not to let him do that."

"Even if he does, it's all backed up," Cleaver said. He brandished a datacube that he had hidden in his robe's pocket.

"Then let's get back to base and get---!!" June screeched to a halt as a blast of orange energy ripped up the ground in front of her. She looked around for the source, but didn't see it until a blue glow revealed Eindramon's outline.

"I wish Tina was here, so we could DNA digivolve and get an ultimate on our side!" Tibemon moaned.

"What're you talking about? Aren't you forgetting something?"

"…Oh, yeah: you have your crest! **Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"Now, let's do that again!"

"**Savamon, digivolve to…Amazonmon!**" Amazonmon looked a lot like Savamon, but she was armed with a bow-and-arrow, not a spear. She had black boots on her feet and wore metal bands around her arms and legs. "Show me your ugly face, Eindramon!"

"I'll show you my attack! Sleight of Hand!"

Amazonmon jumped up, since she didn't know where the attack would come from. It was a near miss. Amazonmon fired a blind shot back: "Energy Quarrel!" The purple arrow flew into the distance and didn't hit anything.

"You're no match for me!" Eindramon shouted, firing a second time at Amazonmon. Amazonmon jumped out of the way again.

"June, you know what to do!"

"Right!" June raced towards Ash. "Ash, you need to pick one of your pokémon and send it through my digivice!"

"…Huh?"

"_Trust me!_"

"…Fine, then! Pikachu, go!"

"Pi-_ka_!" Pikachu shouted, jumping onto June's digivice.

"**Amazonmon, Co-op digivolve to…**"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Now this one was too short! …It seems like I'm really not giving the Monster Rancher crew enough time in the spotlight. I've got to change that.

By the way, special thanks to Gigadramon Yagami from Megchan's Digimon Message Board for drawing that picture of Eindramon for me so that I could use it to make that stealth mode animation! 


	39. Chapter 39: I Can Do Better!

Chapter 38: …I Can Do Better!

The orphans were oblivious to the danger at hand: they didn't know that they had moved out of the mausoleum because Terrance had really been a spy. All they knew was that their stomachs were full of candy, and that was a problem: they were hyper. All through the halls of the college, they were running like pinballs, trying to outrun each other and anyone who was trying to keep them under control.

They weren't sure whether the menace machines' sonar would or wouldn't be confused by the heavy piping surrounding the tunnels, but---if the machines _could_ find them---then it wouldn't be a great thing to have dozens of children and not know where all of them are.

One thing was for sure: the children had to be calmed down. Tina got an idea that she wondered if she wouldn't regret: there was no light in the tunnels, except for the electric lamps above them, and they could control those lights easily. So, praying that no one would trip and fall when they did this, they turned out _all_ the lights in the tunnels.

The children's screams of laughter stopped for a moment, and the footsteps ground to a halt, too. After a minute, sobbing started, and---before they knew it---there was sobbing in nine-part harmony.

"Do we turn the lights back on, yet?" Rika asked.

"I think they've had enough," Tina answered, half reasoning this and half out of compassion. She switched one of the lights back on, and everyone else followed her lead. She scooped up another one of the orphans to stop her crying and comfort her. "I almost regret doing this," Tina sighed.

"Yeah…but there's one thing I think you ought to know about: I…I've lost my warp-digivolving card."

"You _what_?!"

"I know I had it a few days before the pageant, but I looked for it in my other cards…and it wasn't there. It should have been in there; that's where I always keep it!"

Tina had a very pensive look on her face.

"…What?"

"I think that it was stolen, not lost!"

"Huh?!"

"Remember Terrance? Well, he was really that guy with the cloak who has digi-clones following him around. And I remember seeing him in your room while you were asleep. He must have stolen it."

Rika gulped. "If he gets the ability to send six megas after us…"

"…Then we have a problem…"

******

"**Amazonmon, Co-op digivolve to…Thunderbard!**" There seemed to be a lot more of Pikachu in Thunderbard than Amazonmon. She appeared human, except that she had a wet, black nose. Her hair was shocking Pikachu yellow, and she wore fake-leather pants and a fake-leather jacket, both of them lined with yellow fluff. She also held an electric guitar.

"Pikachu?!" Ash asked, looking at Thunderbard.

Thunderbard was more interested in attacking Eindramon than answering Ash's question. In a voice that sounded like Pikachu speaking English, she snarled, "Where are you, you big fiend-idol?"

"Give you three guesses," Eindramon answered, firing another blast of energy at her. She jumped up and over the blast.

"Whoa," June said, "I've never see Amazonmon with _that_ kind of agility, before!"

"You've never seen Amazonmon before, _ period_, if I remember correctly," Thunderbard shot back. Looking back at where she hoped Eindramon would be, she said, "If this is the way we're going to play it, then I'm going to play it loud! Thunder!!" She began strumming her guitar, and---as beautiful as the sound was---its effects were far more interesting: lightning bolts fell out of the sky and struck everything---one of the things being Eindramon. She saw where Eindramon was, and added another attack: "Swift!" With a single strum, the star stickers on her guitar glowed white and shot out star-shaped bursts of light at Eindramon. Eindramon was knocked backwards again and again. "Time to end this! Ash, you know what to do!"

"Right! Bulbasaur, Blastoise! I choose you! Try using your beam attacks on Eindramon! You too, Kingler!"

"As for me, myself…Earthquake!" Thunderbard began playing her guitar harder than ever, and the ground beneath Eindramon's feet shook open. The deadly beams all hit it squarely, and Eindramon fell to the ground, unconscious. "So much for _him_," Thunderbard muttered. Thunderbard's mood shifted immediately as she saw Ash. She went racing at him and picked him up…and began to lick his face. "Ash! Lookit! I can talk! I can swing fists with the best of 'em! I've got a transformation!"

"Thunderbard, this is disgusting!"

"And look! I'm bigger than you! …How about you ride on my shoulder for a while?" Thunderbard picked Ash up and set him on her shoulders. "See? Comfy?"

"…Not _exactly_…Are you telling me that Pikachu's mind took over when you Co-op digivolved?"

"Yes, he did!" Thunderbard said. "And I'm glad he did!"

"Well…"

"There isn't time for this, Thunderbard!" June cut in. "Gary is back down there, and he's fighting with that guy with the cloak over data in Cleaver's lab!"

"Awh! They'll trash the place! Thunderbard, Blastoise, Bulbasaur, Kingler, Noctowl! We need to get down there!"

"Aye-aye!" Thunderbard set Ash down and ran with unbelievable speed down the stairs.

"Are you sure this was an improvement?" Ash asked June.

"Not really, no…"

******

With pokémon, there is a science behind different pokémon's elements that digimon do not always have: there is a huge hierarchy and table of elements and which elements have leverage against which others. Water is more powerful than fire, for example. There are many such relationships, and each of Gary's and The Unnamed Figure's pokémon was using that leverage to their own advantage. This ended up in total, painful, chaos.

"Bunny blast!" Terriermon shouted, trying to cancel Magneton's Thundershock. It barely worked, even with his upgrade-modification. "This just plain isn't cutting it, Henry!"

"Relax," an unfamiliar voice said, behind them.

"Who are _you_?!" Gary asked, half-ready to send Nidoking after this newcomer.

"Don't you recognize me?! …Okay, I guess you wouldn't but---ack! You again! Swift attack!" She began firing white stars at The Unnamed Figure's pokémon, and none of them lasted for very long. "It's really too bad that you don't have your digi-clones with you, huh? …You know, it sure feels great to be able to talk back to the enemy---"

"Guess again! ** Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Darkpatamon, digivolve to…Avatarmon!**" The champion digi-clone glared at Thunderbard. "Demon Crystal!" it shouted, firing a pyramid-shaped, blue stone out at Thunderbard from his sleeve.

Thunderbard smacked the stone with her guitar, and the stone shattered. "Nice shot. It would've hurt if you'd actually hit me. _My turn_!" Thunderbard began running circles around Avatarmon like there was no tomorrow. "Agility!" she shouted.

"This is stupid! Fallen Angel Rod!" Avatarmon stuck its scythe out, right where Thunderbard would've been running…only to find that she had stopped.

"Swift!" A barrage of white stars smacked Avatarmon backwards, but it wasn't long before Avatarmon began using its scythe to reflect the attack back at her.

"Stoppit!" Gary shouted. "You're demolishing the lab!"

"Then I'll just have to switch to plan B." Thunderbard ran up to Avatarmon and punched it in the belly. Then she grabbed The Unnamed Figure and yanked his digivice off his arm. "_Now _let's see you get---_ACK!!!_" Thunderbard dropped the D-Gauntlet and fell to the ground.

"Nice try," he sneered. "But, unfortunately for you, anything with a subspace matrix that touches my D-Gauntlet gets it right in the face! ---Anyone except me, that is… Sweet dreams, lover-girl!"

"Then Gary's the only one who can go for the D-Gauntlet," Henry reasoned aloud.

"And I just will! Exeggutor, I choose you! Use confusion to get that digivice away from him!" Exeggutor's attack was equally ineffective.

"Ho-hum. Graviton waves won't work, either! This D-Gauntlet is thief-proof! Take it from a pro! Now, about that Eevee---Avatarmon, take away his pokéballs!"

"Don't let him go there, Exeggutor! Barrage attack!"

Avatarmon reflected the dozens of little yellow bullets back at Gary, and Gary felt a few hit his stomach. He collapsed to the ground and began to stagger back up to his feet.

"Terriermon, it's all up to you, now! **Digi-modify! Hypersonic, activate!**"

Terriermon rushed at Avatarmon and spat more fireballs at him. Avatarmon felt them, and began reflecting them away with his scythe. One fireball hit Terriermon back in the face, and he collapsed backwards. Terriermon fainted, and couldn't tell that Avatarmon was winding up for the final blow… 


	40. Chapter 39: Trouble With The Neighbors

Chapter 39: Trouble With The Neighbors

"Tornado!" Golem and Big Blue shouted as waves of incoming gorillouts advanced. The gorillouts took a lot of damage from the titans' attacks, but they weren't about to be destroyed in one fell swoop like that.

"Lightning!" Pixie added, firing a few of her own attacks into the droves. They gorillouts were slowly getting picked off…_too_ slowly: they returned fire.

"YoNon Gazrii!" they shouted, opening fire.

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass!** Roto-saw!" Suezo reflected as many shots as possible back into the gorillouts' ranks. "Blossom Blade!" he added, firing jagged bits of metal back at them.

"We're going to need more help, if we're going to take these!"

Takato shouted back, "More help you'll get: **Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Guilmon, warp-digivolve to…Gallantmon!** Lightning Joust!" Gallantmon fired blasts of electricity out of his lance at the gorillouts, and they couldn't stand a hit. "So much for them," he said.

"Why couldn't ya have done that _before_ we went to all this trouble?" Saw-grass asked. "It's not like we have all the energy in the world to waste on these fights, you know."

"It won't be wasted," Gallantmon said, looking over their shoulders at wave two.

Saw-grass rolled his eye. "I had to ask, didn't I? Roto-saw!" he shouted, driving back into the incoming C-birds.

"Lightning!" Pixie added.

"Milady, this battle---"

"I'm not going to let these people die, Big Blue!"

"…I was only going to suggest that you module-evolve, yourself."

"…That's a better idea! Takato! The digi-egg of adventure!"

"I have it, here! Tina gave it to me, in case you'd need it!"

"Throw it up to me! **Pixie, module-evolve to…Mole Sprite!** Laser Shell!" Mole Sprite's shots bit into the flock of C-birds, but it would take more than that to get them all. So she decided to do something that was completely irrational: she decided to fight the C-birds, hand-to…wing.

"Milady, this is insanity---" she wasn't even listening to Big Blue. One C-bird was heading straight for her. She wound up for a kick, and the C-bird stopped cold and fell to the ground. More C-birds met similar fates.

"Isn't it just a _little_ unsettling that they know _exactly_ where to attack us?" Saw-grass asked.

"You're right! Chances are good that they're attacking the others from below, too! I think that _some_ of us had better get down there!" Mole Sprite shouted.

"Which ones?" Saw-grass asked.

"The ones that fit!" Mole Sprite answered, flying down the manhole. She didn't like what she saw when she got to the bottom: there were mandroids coming out of the water and attacking everything, and this particular type of machine was especially a problem: mandroids had a lot of explosives in their bodies, and there were enough man-droids to start a chain reaction if one blew up. So she began punching and kicking the robots to disable them. "This is slow, but…well, it works."

She heard someone screaming for help, so she flew above the ruckus of man-droids toward the source of the scream. The man-droids shot at her, but their shots didn't do much damage when they managed to hit. "What's the deal?"

"There's no way _out_ of here!" Mimi shouted. "We need someone who can dig out!"

"That would be me," Mole Sprite began digging into the walls and upwards. "Keep your digimon in their rookie forms, we'll need them later, if we're attacked again…and keep Tiger from using lightning!"

Tiger spat, "Like you think I don't know not to blow them up? Blizzard!" Tiger blew streams of ice into the man-droids, and that was too cold for them to stand. Fortunately, it was also too cold for them to use their self-destruct attack: it used a chemical reaction that wouldn't work at too low of temperatures.

Refugees began piling into the tunnel that Mole Sprite was making, but there was another problem: there were tor-mites burrowing up through the ground and into the tunnel to ambush them. Even though the tor-mites couldn't use their energy cannons in that close of quarters, they could use their sonic attacks. People bent over in nausea, and couldn't move.

"Not this again!" Mole Sprite shouted. "Laser Shell!" she fired at a few of the tor-mites, and they didn't survive her firepower. "This is getting old! This tunnel isn't going to get finished by itself!" Mole Sprite kept working at the wall, and heard another shout from behind.

"Chlorophyll Ray!" Palmon fired at the augore, but she missed.

"V'ver Dra!" it answered. The shot hit the ground in front of Palmon's feet, and she was knocked backwards.

"Marching Fishes!" Gomamon's attack knocked the augore off its feet, and it was essentially dead, after that. "Well, that was pretty easy! You okay, Palmon?"

"I will be," she answered.

"That may change," Joe said, with a bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

Gomamon rolled his eyes. "Okay, I _admit_ that being underground _and_ under attack isn't the best of circumstances, but why do you always have to look at the negative side, Joe?"

"Because if I'm looking at the negative side, then I know when to duck!" he answered, as an orange sphere of energy flew over his head.

"Aw, great! More of these things!" Gomamon muttered as he dodged an attack, himself.

"**Ckinei-tor-wadrii****, noh unukreshnaiona djom…ckinei-tor-mbili!**"

"Oooo, even nicer! There's more of them, too!"

"This is bad," Mimi moaned. "We'll never make it out of here in time!"

"Hey, being pessimistic is _my_ job!" Joe spat. "If you think you can just take my job right in front of my face and not catch flak for it, you're dead wrong, lady! You're _dead wrong_---"

"Hey, uh…Joe… How about showing some of that aggressiveness towards the menace machines?"

"Okay. Gomamon! Slug 'em with all you've got! Don't leave _one_ standing!"

"Marching fishes!" he shouted, and the droll bits were swept off their feet.

"Now, finish 'em off, Palmon!"

"Chlorophyll ray!" she spread laser fire over the field of crippled robots, and they were all destroyed.

"Great teamwork!" Joe shouted. He motioned for the rest of the refugees to follow them up the shaft, but they were reluctant, and began backing away from him.

"Come on! If we don't keep going, then we'll all be killed!" Joe shouted. But the refugees only backed away and into the darkness of the shaft. "Hmph. Even _I'm_ not that big a coward."

"Joe, look behind you!" Mimi shouted.

Joe didn't look behind himself: he kind stood there hunched over for a second, and then ran towards the refugees. "Wait for meeeeeeeeeee!"

What Joe hadn't seen was that a tor-mite had come out of the wall of the shaft and sent Mole Sprite back down to Pixie. Now it was turning on the people in the shaft, and it had enough elbow room to use its energy cannons…

******

"Fallen Angel Ro---?!"

Avatarmon's staff was being held back by something…but it didn't know what. It looked, and there was Scizor, clamping down on its staff with one of his huge claws.

"Great work, Scizor!" Tracy shouted. "Now, use Fury Cutter!" Scizor began slicing away at Avatarmon, and Avatarmon took damage quickly.

"This isn't working," The Unnamed Figure mused. "Time for some more help…**Digi-modify!**** Firepower, activate!**"

Avatarmon hurled another crystal at Scizor, which Scizor caught and pitched right back at Avatarmon.

"It's a wonder that this guy survives any battles at all," Tracy thought aloud.

"I'm just glad I finished off your little friend," The Unnamed Figure said through his nose, throwing a glance at Thunderbard's lifeless corpse. "We won't be hearing from her again!"

"You…_killed_ her?!" June and Ash were both dumbfounded.

"And now, it's time for the rest of you…**Digi-modify! Recovery, activate!**"

Avatarmon's wounds healed themselves, and it began to fight back against Scizor.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Henry shouted.

"I _have_ what we came for, Avatarmon," The Unnamed Figure said, brandishing a datacube. "Let's file out of this hole!"

"Will do," Avatarmon answered, blasting Scizor backwards and picking up its human. It flew out the hallway like there was no tomorrow.

"You know what to do, Terriermon!" Henry said. "We're going after him; you guys concentrate on reviving Thunderbard!"

"'Reviving?' What does he mean?" Ash asked.

Cleaver nodded. "Medical science has come a long ways with SI life forms, like digimon and disc monsters. Thunderbard is a super pokémon, not a digimon, and pokémon's bodies just sit there and rot, like human bodies; they don't disappear like digimon do. We designed the merged subspace matrix to not disappear, so that they'd be easy to revive. If we can revive Thunderbard's normal-space body and force her to go back down to Pikachu and Tibemon, they'll recover on their own."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"The external electric pads to warm up," Cleaver answered.

******

"**Digi-modify!**** Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Terriermon, warp-digivolve to…Megagargomon!**"

"Impressive display, Henry, but I have an ace up my sleeve! **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

Another digimon seemed to come out of nowhere and digivolve: "**Pangolimon, digivolve to…Glyptodomon!**"

"Oh, right! Like two champions will scare me! Gargo Missile!" Megagargomon's attack bit into the pavement and sent the two champions flying.

"**Digi-modify!**** DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Glyptodomon!**"

"**Avatarmon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Shakkoumon!**"

"I'm still not worried," Megagargomon said. "Mega Barrage!" A hailstorm of missiles flew at Shakkoumon.

"Data Vacuum!" Shakkoumon shouted, sucking every missile into its belly.

"You really _ought_ to worry!" The Unnamed Figure shouted back. "Especially since you're outnumbered and outmatched! **Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Shakkoumon, mega digivolve to…Totemmon!**"

"**Eindramon, mega digivolve to…**"


	41. Chapter 40: Turnabout Is Stil Fair Play

NOTE: Christian content---although I suppose Muslims wouldn't find it offensive, since I simply call Him "God".

Chapter 40: Turnabout Is Still Fair Play

"**Eindramon, mega digivolve to…Kamnadramon!**" Kamnadramon looked like a color-inverted copy of Imperialdramon fighter mode. It was white all over, with tarnished silver where Imperialdramon wore gold, and its wings were blue and had holes in them that made one wonder how it could fly at all. But, unfortunately, it was very agile in the air.

"This doesn't look good for us, Henry," Megagargomon said.

"Your upgrade and speed mods should still be in effect," Henry answered. "Hit 'em hard and fast, and they should go down!"

"In your dreams," The Unnamed Figure taunted. "These two have a little…_addition_ that the Empire thought would be necessary…**Digi-modify! Mode change, activate!**"

"**Kamnadramon, mode-change to…Druid mode!**"

Totemmon and Kamnadramon seemed to merge into one digimon. It looked kind of like Imperialdramon's fighter mode, but it was covered in a brown cloak, and its hands were wicked talons.

"You mean…?!" Henry's sentence trailed off. "In one of the movies that they never translated to English, Imperialdramon and Omegamon fused and Imperialdramon mode-changed to paladin mode! If this thing can merge with other megas and get new forms, then…it's got to be almost unstoppable!"

"Doesn't stop me from trying, Henry!" Megagargomon answered.

The Unnamed Figure chuckled back, "It stops you from succeeding, though! Show 'em, Kamnadramon!"

"Positron Laser!" it shouted, letting a pair of starbursts appear in its hands. It fired green blasts of deadly energy in Megagargomon's direction, but---thanks to Megagargomon's speed-mod---it couldn't land a hit.

"Mega Barrage!" Megagargomon shot back, sending missile after missile flying into Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon raised a fold of its cloak to block itself from the blast, and the cloak somehow deflected the missiles. "Great…this guy isn't a quitter, either…"

"Positron Laser!" It fired another pair of energy beams at Megagargomon, and Megagargomon flew up and over Kamnadramon to avoid the blasts.

As Megagargomon flew, he threw a punch at Kamnadramon's unprotected head. He landed a hit for the first time, and began following the hit up with another rapid-fire missile barrage.

Kamnadramon shook off the blow. It covered its face with its cloak again, and got ready to fire another blast of lasers at him.

"This isn't working, Megagargomon! Try ripping his cloak off from him! That'll make him vulnerable!"

"In your dreams," The Unnamed Figure shouted. "**Digi-modify!**** Speed, activate!**" In a blur, Kamnadramon dashed out from Megagargomon's rainstorm of missiles, circled around behind him, and grabbed him by the throat.

"Megagargomon!"

June, Ash, Gary, and Tracy dashed out of Cleaver's lab. "What's going on?" Ash asked.

"It digivolved up to mega, and now it's crushing Megagargomon!"

"Huh? …Then it's time for a little payback! Tyranitar, I choose you!"

"Ash, Tyranitar doesn't have a chance against Kamnadramon!" Henry yelled.

"He's not going for Kamnadramon…_he's going for Terrance!_" Ash pointed as The Unnamed Figure tossed out Magneton to defend against Tyranitar.

"Magneton, use Rollout!" he shouted. The trio of pokémon rolled at the huge dinosaur, and barely made a dent in his belly.

"Tyranitar, use Rock Slide!" Tyranitar looked pensive, but he obeyed Ash's command. The stony attack didn't do much damage, however. It only knocked Magneton to the ground. "Now that he's grounded, use Earthquake!" Tyranitar saw where this was going and blasted the Magneton with the attack. Magneton didn't last.

"Magneton, return! Sneasel, I choose you!"

"Sneasel, huh? That's an ice-type! Ice is _weak_ against rock! Tyranitar, Rock Slide!"

"Sneasel, dodge!" Sneasel was too quick to be hit with the attack. "Now, Faint Attack!" Sneasel disappeared, and Tyranitar felt a few blows land on his chest. He shook them off.

"Tyranitar, we need something else to get at this guy! Try…try Sandstorm!" Ash shouted, draping his jacket over his face to keep the sand from getting into his mouth and eyes. Somehow, he didn't feel any sand. He took his jacket away from his face to see that The Unnamed Figure had his gauntlet's weapon aimed at his head. Sneasel had had enough time to freeze Tyranitar in a block of ice before Tyranitar's attack began.

"Playtime's over! You're all my prisoners!" The Unnamed Figure sneered. Megagargomon had already regressed back to Terriermon, and was too exhausted to do anything. Mandroids had grabbed and handcuffed June, Tracy, and Gary, already. The Unnamed Figure smiled at June, and June _really_ didn't like the look of the smile. She knew he was a womanizer. She made a mental note to make sure she poisoned him, if she ended up his personal attendant. He seemed to know that she was thinking about him with dread, and so he let out an evil laugh. "This is going to be sweet…_and_ I got what we came for!" He brandished the datacube in his hand. "I will get _so_ rewarded for this!"

"Guess again! Dragon Bomb!" A blue sphere of light smacked the datacube out of his hands and sent it skidding across the pavement. Its plastic shell was broken, and it landed in a puddle of water. That datacube was history.

Youngdramon didn't stop there: she fired another shot at his gauntlet and knocked that to pieces, too.

"You just made a mistake that will cost you dearly! You'll never make it past my _praze-ator-epio_!"

"We won't need to," Cleaver answered, climbing up out of the lab.

"How did _you_ get up here? You ought to be restrained and sedated!"

"Who by?" Cleaver asked, as if this conversation were going somewhere.

"The _praze-ator-epio_!"

"You mean like these guys?" Cleaver asked. He raised up an earlier version of the D-Gauntlet and pressed a few buttons on it. The Mandroids fell to the ground: Cleaver had commanded them to shut down.

"Not bad, but you've forgotten about Kamnadramon!"

"No we didn't!" T.K. shouted from behind him. "Freeze him, Ironarchaeopteryxmon!" T.K. shouted.

"**Armadillomon, digivolve to…Ankylomon!**"

"**Patamon, digivolve to…Angemon!**"

"**Ankylomon!**"

"**Angemon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Archaeopteryxmon!**"

"**Archaeopteryxmon, mega-digivolve to…Ironarchaeopteryxmon!** Cryo-gate!" A ring of icy energy flew at Kamnadramon with unbelievable speed and knocked it backwards.

"You think that your puny, original mega can fend off with my enhanced, super-charged one?"

"You're evil, we're good!" Cody shot back. "We serve a God of goodness, and he's more powerful than any god the Empire serves!"

"Oh, a religious struggle, huh?"

"It's a struggle between _truth _and_ lies_," Cody shot back.

"Funny…deceit is the super-crest I used to make Eindramon digivolve. And deceit is how I infiltrated your base in the first place…sounds like powerful stuff, to me!"

"Truth is more powerful than that! Can your lies change a person's destiny for the better? Can they change what's really going on?"

"They changed my destiny for the better: the Empire will reward me for your destruction, and the destruction of Ironarchaeopteryxmon! Kamnadramon, you know what to do!"

"Positron Laser!" it shouted, firing a pair of beams at Ironarchaeopteryxmon. Ironarchaeopteryxmon was six stories tall and a big target, so he put his armored gauntlets between himself and the blast. He was knocked backwards and his gauntlets burst into data fragments. "You can't win this one!" Kamnadramon sneered.

"If I can't, then _we _will!" Ironarchaeopteryxmon spat.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"**Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**"

"**Mermon, mega-digivolve to…WarMermon!**"

The Unnamed Figure chuckled. "Your Ironarchaeopteryxmon was worthless against Kamnadramon! WarMermon won't be any better! You're just multiplying zero by two. What do you get when you do that? Anybody answer me! Anybody at all!"

"_You_ get zero…from the Empire!" Tina spat.

"Positron Laser!"

"Macro Blaster!"

"Vocal Blaster!"

The two good digimon's attacks cancelled the evil laser blasts, but none of the digimon stopped shooting. "**Digi-modify! Firepower, activate!**" Kamnadramon began to gain ground as the point where the two shots cancelled began to move back towards the heroes. But just as the beam was about to land on WarMermon, she moved her axe between herself and the blast, reflecting it back into Kamnadramon's face.

"Mer Poleax!" WarMermon shouted as she flew in and slashed at Kamnadramon's protective cloak. It fell to the ground in a wrinkled heap. "Now, let's finish him!"

"Cryo-gate!" Ironarchaeopteryxmon shouted. Kamnadramon was frozen in place.

"Rapid-fire torpedo!" Shot after shot exploded in Kamnadramon's face and chest. In a cloud of smoke, it regressed back down to a quartet of beaten-up digi-clones.

"Ball game!" Tina shouted.

"And as for _you_---huh?!" T.K. looked at where The Unnamed Figure had been standing. "Where's he go?"

They looked off in the distance, and saw that he was riding a c-bird that was rapidly flying away from the JK Institute. WarMermon and Ironarchaeopteryxmon fired at it, but didn't land a hit.

"When is he going to _stop_?!" June asked.

"He won't until _we _stop him," Cody sighed.


	42. Chapter 41: Speed Distance Time ?

Chapter 41: Speed = Distance / Time = ?????

"What's going on, up there?" Tiger asked as he saw that refugees were coming out of the shaft instead of into it.

"They're getting us from both sides!"

"Trapped underground and losing the battle…where's Mole Sprite?"

"She's unconscious at the top!"

Tiger snarled. "This is a gamble, but I think that one of your digimon should evolve and counterattack!"

Mimi shouted, "But if we're attacked later, then---"

"There isn't going to _be_ a later!"

"**Palmon, digivolve to…Togemon!** Needle Spray!" Togemon fired her barrage of needles into the mandroids and finished them off. "Now what? It'll be too slow to get the people out of here up the manhole!"

"But the shaft is swarming with tor-mites! We can't go that way!"

"Then I guess that Pixie is already yesterday's obituary?"

"Probably…"

"If we stay in here, we'll be attacked again."

"Then the only way out of here would be through the water…and I don't trust that."

"We can't just stay here all day, we've got to get out of here, before---" Joe's sentence trailed off as he heard explosions and laser welders working away at the shaft they had made, widening it and advancing towards them.

"Togemon, digivolve!" Mimi screamed.

"**Togemon, digivolve to…Lillymon!**" Lillymon was ready to blast whatever was coming through the hole, but it didn't look like any menace machine they'd ever seen. She wasn't going to fire yet; she wanted a good, hard look at this thing, so that she'd be able to find a weakness, and---

Her mouth dropped open as she recognized this creature: it was Moleg. He was holding Pixie in his arms, and he was the one who had dug the hole. It was easy to guess that he had also finished the tor-mites. He smiled and asked, "You going up?"

The refugees packed out of the hole in the ground to get back to sunlight, back to freedom, back to…a thunderstorm.

"Great. Perfect weather to make a mass escape in, isn't it?" Mimi asked.

"The weather is the least of our worries, Mimi!" Joe shouted. "How are we going to find the others? We're separated from Takato and the other monsters! We need to get back to them, somehow!"

"Too late!" a voice shouted. It was Rainmyotismon, again.

"Who are you?!" Mimi asked.

"Your worst nightmare, of course! You're all going to drown, now!"

"Yeah, I know. But I don't see what you have to do with that," Mimi shot back.

"You will…Tsunami Monsoon!" What happened next was more like a tidal wave than a rainstorm. But it swept them off their feet and made it impossible to breathe.

"**Gomamon, digivolve to…Ikkakumon!** Harpoon Torpedo!" The missile flew at Rainmyotismon and did almost nothing along the line of damage. Ikkakumon did his best to swim toward the refugees and digidestined and give them something to hold on to to keep afloat.

"That was entertaining!" Rainmyotismon sneered, ending the attack. "Now, for a little---"

"**Ikkakumon, digivolve to…Zudomon!** Horn Taser!" The bolt of lightning knocked Rainmyotismon backwards, but didn't do much else.

"I've had enough of you!" Rainmyotismon ended its water attack and morphed its umbrella into a laser weapon. "Crimson Ray!"

Zudomon put his hammer between himself and the ray, and he felt himself get blown backwards by the beam. He skidded almost a block away from her, and---when he looked at what the shot had done to his hammer---he saw a bite taken out of it that almost tore the hammer in two.

"Flower Salvo!"

"Energy Wedge!"

"Lightning!"

The three attacks flew at Rainmyotismon, but it turned its gun back into an umbrella and deflected them all. "You don't have a hope against me!" it shouted.

"But I do!" Gabumon stepped in and snarled. "I owe you a good thrashing for getting my fur wet!" he shouted. "**Gabumon, warp-digivolve to…Metalgarurumon!** Ice wolf claw!" He fired a blast of ice at Rainmyotismon, but it deflected that with its umbrella, too.

"Oh, so you're sending an ice-power digimon at me, huh? Well, you fight ice with fire!" The fabric of its umbrella became a silver alloy, and it used it to shelter itself from her next attack: "Magma Storm!"

Metalgarurumon stood over Matt as the lava rain swept over them.

"Metalgarurumon, you can't take this forever!"

"I don't plan…to need to…! Metal Wolf Snout!" A few laser beams shot out of his nose, and struck Rainmyotismon squarely. It staggered and its attack ceased. "Ice Wolf Claw!" He fired the attack at Rainmyotismon, but it made an unexpected move: a pair of wings that looked like a cross between bat wings and umbrella spokes jutted out its back, and it flew above the ice.

"Surprised I can fly? Don't be. Crimson Ray!"

"Metal Wolf Snout!" The two attacks cancelled.

"Just give up while you're ahead, big-shot!" it shouted. "You don't stand a chance!"

"You think you're great at making it rain, but so am I! Metal Wolf Claw!" Missiles flew at Rainmyotismon like a rainstorm, and it was frozen solid in a block of ice before long. "That's the end of that digi-clone! Now, to finish it off---"

"Mega Destroyer!" A purple beam of energy flew at Metalgarurumon, but he was quick enough to dodge.

"Who's that?!" Joe asked.

"That's Kamnadramon!" Matt answered. "And look who he's with!"

The Unnamed Figure stood proudly atop Kamnadramon's shoulder. "Surprised to see me back? Heh. I just attacked your friends at the Jacqueline-Keeves Institute, and I really didn't like the way it went. Payback time! **Digi-modify! Mode change, activate!**"

"**Kamnadramon, mode-change to…**" 


	43. Chapter 42: Power Beyond Me

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 42: Power Beyond Me

Sora held an orphan in her arms, rocking him gently to try to get him to go to sleep. He'd been crying all afternoon, and Sora wondered if he wasn't sick, or hurt. She wished that Joe had been there to look after the child, but she knew that he was back at their other base. What really scared her was the realization that time was horribly scrambled on Earth: for all she knew, weeks or even years had passed between the time she left that base for the pageant and the time when Matt and Gabumon would arrive. _Then again,_ she reminded herself, trying to keep despair from taking hold, _It's__ just as likely that only a few seconds have passed, and that they'll be back any minute, now._

The boy on her lap suddenly asked her, "What's going on?"

"Hmm?"

"What's happening? What's going on?"

"I…I'm not sure what you mean…"

"I mean out there…in here too. What's going on everywhere?"

Sora was beginning to see what the child was asking: he wanted a general description of how things were. He wanted to see the big picture.

Of course, Sora felt that way, too. She wondered in her mind how much she could tell him, and how much he would understand…

The boy sighed before she made up her mind. "This is just like work: nobody tells me anything!"

"Hmm?! You were an adult before all this happened?"

"Yeah…and I really resent going through childhood all over again. I really don't look forward to puberty: I had enough of zits and a squeaky voice the first time."

Sora couldn't help but chuckle. "You know…I was an adult, too, but…I only know that because somebody else told me. I don't remember anything about what I did, or who I was."

"Spooky."

"I know."

"So…somebody else told you what was going on, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Why won't you tell me, then?"

Sora sighed. "Because I scarcely know, myself. I mean…well…I'll tell you what I know: some outer space aliens think it's a good idea to try and take over Earth. They destroyed the Digiworld because their soldiers can't go into the Digiworld. On top of that, they attacked time on Earth, too, so that time is completely messed up."

"Like how?"

"It's tough to describe…but I've heard of places where there's something like a wall that you go through, and time moves faster on one side of the wall than on the other."

"Weird…"

"There's other stuff, too…like a time tornado that takes stuff in and spits out versions of it from other time periods. One of our fighters went in, and three of him came out…it was weird."

"Yikes!"

"And that's not all…their soldiers are like digimon, but they're robots that eat people alive…they ate a lot of the parents of kids that are here."

The boy just nodded. He yawned. "This is too sad for words."

"I know…"

"All I wanna do is cry…"

"I know…" Sora was almost ready to burst into tears, herself, when she felt a reminder of Tina's words in her head: she had to keep strong to set an example for the others. But she again felt she couldn't keep strong because she wasn't strong… But these words surfaced in her head in a way she never felt before: "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." If she could do anything…then…

She wiped the tears off the boy's face and decided to try to come across as strong. "There's no point in crying if it won't help. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I think you've cried enough for today."

He nodded slowly. Sora wrapped him up in his blanket and found a spot on the floor to set him down. She kneeled at his bedside, wondering what next. He wasn't getting to sleep easily, and she knew that he should probably get some sleep. If they were attacked again, they would need to be well-rested…either to run, or to fight. But it was no use…

Tina kneeled next to them and asked, "How's it hanging?"

Sora shook her head sadly. "He's having trouble getting to sleep."

Tina thought for a moment, bowed her head in silent prayer, and then laid her hands on the boy. Her low, sweet voice began to sing---at first, so softly it was unintelligible…

"♫♪When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie,

My grace all-sufficient shall be your supply,

The flame shall not hurt you: I only design

Your dross to consume and your gold to refine."

Sora stood bewildered as the child slept as softly as snow on a meadow. "How…how did you do that?"

Tina held up a small red book. "I found it in a warehouse while I was on seek patrol. It's a Bible."

"And…that has cures for sleeping problems?"

Tina giggled. "Yes and no. Let me show you…" She turned to a passage near the end of Mark. It was the last chapter, in the eighteenth verse. "Look at this…

'Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.' "

Sora was a bit bewildered. "What…does this mean?"

"It means that we can do anything---because we aren't doing this with our own power. Sure, a scientist can cut open our digivice and tell us that all the energy it uses comes from us, but there are a lot of things we can't do. We can't control everything that happens. We can't do things perfectly. We can't predict the future…not on our own. But with God, we can do anything."

"Then why couldn't I save those people?"

Tina sighed. "There are a bunch of different reasons…maybe it was their time."

"Time…ha."

Tina didn't know what Sora meant by that. But she went on, "Sora, nothing happens without a reason…and if you don't take this to heart…then the reason for this---well, you've defeated the reason for it."

Sora sniffled. "I can't…God can…"

Tina nodded. "Look at what just happened: me putting my hands on this kid to cure insomnia shouldn't have done anything, and, really, it didn't. God's Holy Spirit did it all."

Sora understood---and she wondered to herself how she could get in on this power that went beyond her…(1)

******

"**Kamnadramon, mode-change to…Typhoon mode!**" The typhoon mode looked like Imperialdramon's dragon mode, but with the wings put together into the hull of a boat. It sported a pair of laser weapons, one on each wing pylon. And it was tough to see, but it looked like Rainmyotismon was inside Kamnadramon's head, at the controls of the boat. "Time you saw just what I am capable of! Hurricane Force!"

"Not so fast!" Tai's voice shouted. A cardboard box skidded across the floor as Metalgreymon swooped down and regressed back to Agumon. "You're ready, Agumon?"

"I'm ready! **Agumon, warp-digivolve to…Wargreymon!**" Wargreymon put his wing panels together to form a shield. "Brave Shield!" he shouted, and an orange field of energy surrounded the refugees and protected them from the blasts of lightning and water and wind that were hurled at them from Kamnadramon.

"Tai, good to see you!" Mimi shouted, running at them.

"Whoa, Mimi! Rainmyotismon's been here, I see…"

"Her Tsunami Monsoon attack was sure named right!" Mimi spat, wringing out her blouse.

"Relax, Mimi!" Matt said, opening the box. "We thought these might come in handy while we were passing a warehouse." He pulled out blankets and jackets that were of such a variety of sizes that everyone was clad by the time they emptied the box.

"Tai, we've got a problem! Kamnadramon isn't stopping its attack, and I can't last forever!"

"Neither can he, Wargreymon!"

"Especially if Zudomon has a say in it!" Joe shouted. "Go for it!"

Zudomon had been sneaking up behind Kamnadramon for a while, and he chose this moment to attack. He couldn't hear Joe at all, but he knew what Kamnadramon was doing. Aiming for one of the cannons on Kamnadramon's back, Zudomon brought his hammer down on the cannon and smashed it. He went for the other cannon, but was too late: it shot at his hammer and knocked it out of his grasp.

"You think you're a match for us?" Kamnadramon asked.

"Horn Taser!" Zudomon answered. The bolt of lightning hit Kamnadramon's body and seemed to glide off.

"Electricity won't hurt me; this body is as plastic-clad as Rainmyotismon!" Kamnadramon sneered.

"I bet there's as much plastic in your brain, too!"

"You'll regret saying that! Crimson Laser!" Zudomon turned around and pulled his arms and legs into his shell to try and keep in defense mode as the red blasts continually pounded him.

"Shouldn't have taken your eyes off of us!" Wargreymon shouted. "Nova Force!"

"Metal Wolf Snout!" The two attacks pounded Kamnadramon in the back and disabled its turbines, sending it plummeting to the ground, crippled, and unable to re-start its Hurricane Force attack.

"**Digi-modify!**** Recovery, activate!**" Kamnadramon's wounds simultaneously healed, and it began its Hurricane force attack again.

"Brave Shield!" Wargreymon replaced the force field. "This isn't getting us anywhere, Metalgarurumon! I think we'd better merge and become Omegamon!"

"We know what to do!" Matt shouted. He and Tai clapped their digivices together…nothing happened.

"Come on!" Tai shouted.

"How did it happen the last time?"

"I don't know! Ghenki just barely touched the screen on my digivice, and then they trans-mega digivolved!"

"This isn't good, Tai…"

"I know…we need more fighters if we're ever going to beat this guy!"

(1) You know how you get in? Well, obviously, first, you have to believe in Jesus as your _only_ Savior _and_ Lord. Not to preach, but---if you don't do that---it all falls apart. Second, you have to ask humbly. That's all there is to it. (Would you expect more? God works the miracles, not you, so there's not much that you actually do. But then again, life isn't all about power...nor is Christianity; I've gone a long time without supernatural stuff, and I'm okay with that.) 


	44. Chatper 43: He's BLACK

NOTE: Christian content.

Chapter 43: HE'S BLACK

"Misty, wake up!"

"Hmm…??"

"Misty, we're back! And it's a good thing we found you back, too." It was Ash's voice. Misty realized this, and that---before she had gone to sleep---there had been a good chance she wouldn't find him back easily. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Misty…so, you really _do_ have a thing for Ash!" Tracy thought aloud. He got a dark stare from both of them. "Ah…*cough!!*…I think I'll go talk to Cleaver, for a minute."

As Tracy excused himself, Ash and Misty looked at each other. "What all happened, Ash?"

"We were on seek patrol, basically, and we were passing by Cleaver's lab when we got attacked. But there was something else that we've gotta tell you about: Tracy caught a Raikou!"

"A what?"

"A Raikou! He's got the most powerful electric pokémon there is!"

Pikachu snorted in anger.

"Oh, c'mon, Pikachu! How would you like going one-on-one with Raikou?"

Pikachu ground his teeth and swallowed hard.

"That's what I thought. Anyhow, we just found him walking around, and he got in a fight with a cybertooth. We had to catch him to save him."

"Wow…just like I caught Suicune!"

"Except dryer," Ash chuckled…but he stopped chuckling when he saw Misty's expression. "Anyway…I'm not sure why, but we only seem to be running into really powerful pokémon when we find them."

"Then…maybe only powerful pokémon would survive at all, out here."

"Probably…so…how're you holding up?"

"How? …Well…I dunno. I guess it was fun being a mourner…"

"Mourner?"

"It was my part in the Easter pageant." Misty pulled the black poncho out of her backpack and put it over herself, also tying the black towel around her waist.

"Whoa…you really fit the part!"

"Thanks, Ash…that makes me feel a lot better…"

"…Misty, you're not…_still_…"

"Well…no, I guess not…I learned something new about what it means to be dead, and…the funny part is that there's still hope, even when you're dead."

"_Huh?!_"

"You should've been there for the Easter pageant, Ash…they showed the story about how God _chose_ to die…for us, somehow…but He didn't stay dead. And we don't have to, either: at some point, everyone's going to rise from the dead."

"Whoa…but…_how_?"

"Pika…."

"Supernatural power of God, Ash."

"Wow...what a God. I've never heard of any other God who does anything like that. That's really different." There was a short pause. "So, has anything happened here, while we were gone?"

"Not much, no. Just that we know who that guy with the cloak is: his name is Terrance, and he was really the thief we saw talking to that one man with the blue shirt!"

"Awh!" Ash shouted, standing up.

"He knows where all our bases are, and I don't think he's going to keep a secret for us. That's why we're moving here."

"But what about the others? What about our base in the storm sewers?"

"Tai and Matt are going after those…I just hope they can make it…"

******

Wargreymon was clearly losing it: Tai felt a drop of water smack his face. He really didn't like the idea of having to stand up to Kamnadramon's attack, but he steeled himself for the approaching moment when Wargreymon's shield would give way.

Suddenly, they saw a red flash of energy explode around Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon was a surprised as everyone else.

"Was that Zudomon's work?" Tai asked.

"Zudomon doesn't have any red attacks…as far as I know," Joe answered.

"Then who…unless it's…"

"Blackwargreymon!" they all shouted.

They had made a perfect guess. Coming to a halt between the refugees and Kamnadramon, Blackwargreymon brandished his newly formed, clawed gauntlets. "I'm not sure who you are, but, if you're attacking these people, you're definitely my enemy! And that is _not_ a good thing to be!"

"Blackwargreymon, you're back?"

"With a vengeance!" he answered. "Terra Destroyer!"

"Nova Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

"Energy Wedge!"

"Flower Salvo!"

The attacks smacked Kamnadramon and sent it skidding backwards.

Kamnadramon returned fire: "Crimson Laser!" But the beam wasn't aimed at the fighters: it was aimed at the refugees.

"Ho-_hum_!" Blackwargreymon spat. "Terra Screen!" He put his wing panels together into a shield and projected a force field around the refugees. The beam reflected harmlessly off into the sky.

"Hurricane force!" This attack was as effective against Blackwargreymon as it had been against Wargreymon.

"Aw, man! This same setup, again! Doesn't Kamnadramon ever get tired?" Matt asked.

"We can hope so," Tai answered.

"**Digi-modify!**** Recovery, activate!**"

"Nope," Matt sighed to himself. "This is pointless, Tai! We need to get these refugees out of here and back to the coll---I mean, back to our other base, before Kamnadramon gets a bead on where we're going!"

"I won't let him do that," Blackwargreymon said. "If it weren't for these human refugees, I'd tear open Kamnadramon's bridge and get that pilot out once-and-for-all!"

"That's it!" Tai shouted. "That's how we can defeat him! But we'll need another diversion…"

Zudomon was right on cue: he fired his Horn Taser at Kamnadramon, giving Blackwargreymon just enough time to drive at Kamnadramon's head and slash. He pulled Rainmyotismon out of the bridge, hurled it into the air, and then hurled a fireball after it. A tired and beaten-down Blackgatomon and Jaymon plummeted to the ground.

"That does it!" The Unnamed Figure shouted as Kamnadramon mode-changed back to its fighter mode. "Retreat!"

The three mega digimon began taking pot-shots after the huge Imperialdramon clone, but it was no use: it was just too quick. It was out of range before long.

"Now…how about we get everyone someplace where they _won't_ get attacked?" Wargreymon asked.

"Not until the others catch up to us," Mimi answered. "As eager as I am to get out of the rain, we can't just go. They'll never find us back if we don't wait."

"They will if we look for them," Matt said, climbing back onto Metalgarurumon's back. "We know where the base entrance is from here, and we know where our new base is, so we can find them back and take them there."

"Good luck!" Joe yelled after them.

******

"…And _why_, do tell, didn't you obtain a sample of either of their DNA?"

"Because I was ill-equipped to do so! I was up against three mega digimon and several ultimates and some creature we've never identified. Kamnadramon was surrounded. It just wasn't enough. If I'd had Totemmon or a pair of super pokémon with me, then I'd be able to beat them. But my D-Gauntlet _still_ doesn't have that kind of power! And, even if it did, no one ever provided me with a DNA sampling kit!"

"I shall have those responsible terminated---and I'll have you equipped with a sampling kit for your next mission."

"That being?"

"They have become aware of our _clave-ator-d'dhor_ lately, and have been finding and destroying many of our ator factories. We are setting up a larger factory near the location of their former orphanage."

"The place where they had the Easter pageant?"

"Yes. We will put you in charge of supervising this operation." 


	45. Chapter 44: Return of the Kink

Chapter 44: The Return of the Kink

Tina grinned. "I can't wait to try out Co-op digivolving for myself!"

"Me either," Youngdramon agreed. But, after a moment's thought, she added, "Although surrendering my mind totally to a non-sentient pokémon doesn't at-first sound like the most fun thing in the world to do."

"True…but there's power, there's new attacks, there's a completely new science to fighting…it's not all that bad."

"I guess…so, what's on the agenda for today? More orphanage duty?"

"Probably…say, we've been wanting to do the bridge skit for a long time…why don't we do that one for today?"

"I thought we were saving that for a day when the kids were down, though," Youngdramon pointed out, waddling after Tina as they walked to the auditorium where the orphans were sleeping.

"We were," Tina answered. She let Youngdramon peek in the door, and there wasn't the usual joyous cry of "TINA!!!" and the kids rushing at her. (She loved the kids, and they loved her back. But they had a funny way of showing it, today.) There were only sad faces: three of the orphans had wandered into a time field that made them starve to death in seconds when it should have taken weeks. There was no stench, no scream, only unbelievably fast decay and a trio of clad skeletons lying on the floor. A few other children saw it, and they were scared out of their wits…thinking, _What__ if that had been me? What would happen if everyone had that happen to them?_

"I think we'd better get the crowd-controls," Youngdramon said. "And we'd better have June put them in."

"I'll get the sweatshirt and the Staff of Artifice."

"I'll fetch the candy."

******

June had no trouble understanding what went where, but she had a great deal of trouble understanding what the purpose of all this was. She had set up the crowd-controls from the stage door to the middle of the stage, but she didn't understand what the purpose of the crowd-controls was. Nor did she understand why there were planks of wood lying in sequence between the crowd controls like railroad ties. She felt she knew even less when Tina showed up with a tattered sweatshirt and a clear, plastic backpack filled with assortments of candy. The strangest part was when Youngdramon appeared with a wizard's hat and a strange-looking staff in one claw.

"You wanna clue me in?" June asked.

"It's all for a skit."

"I could tell that…you're going to do another one?"

"Can you think of a better time when I should?"

"…Okay, but I want to see how it goes."

"You will. I have Kari and Brock working the lights and sound. This will be my best skit yet!"

******

The children were a little scared when the lights dimmed, but they began to get the idea that a show was starting when the lights on the stage brightened. They saw Youngdramon at one end of the makeshift bridge, holding her magic wand, reading a huge book, and chanting her "magic spell":

"class Cloud extends Object

{

final static double MAX_CAPACITY = 200000080.07;

double myPayload;

double myRateOfDischarge;

public Cloud(double payload, double rateOfDischarge)

{

myPayload = payload;

myRateOfDischarge = rateOfDischarge;

}

public void Lightning()

{

Graphic.drawBolt();

Sound.playThunder(loud);

}

public static void…"

As Youngdramon continued, a cardboard-cutout cloud slowly swung over her and dumped a bucketful of water on her back. This blasted her wizard's hat off her head and made her shout, "Oooo-hoo-hoo-hoo!! …I knew I should've studied for this spelling test!"

Kari then played sound effects of thunder and began flashing the lights to make it look like a storm was brewing. Also, Brock switched on a fan that blew leaves and bits of paper around stage, and made Youngdramon's wizard hat go flying away. Youngdramon snapped her jaws at the hat to keep from losing it, but with no success. She let out an angry snort and said, "I lose more hats that way!"

It was about at this point that Tina came walking on stage, acting like the burden of the candy was too much for her, and that the storm was really hindering her progress. She walked onto the bridge, but Youngdramon shouted, "Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm trying to get this candy to those kids! Look at me! I'm a wreck: I've journeyed for almost two minutes to try and get it to them! And then this storm rolls in…"

"Oh, but this is _my_ bridge. Only the people I let cross ever make it to the other side!"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, a wizard and a bridge…the wizard guards the bridge and won't let anyone cross unless she answers three questions."

"What happens if I get a question wrong?"

"What?!"

"I said, what happens if I get one wrong---you know, this storm is really getting in the way of communication!"

"That's my fault," Youngdramon said. "Now, let me see…the way this terminates is through the System.exit() method, so I---"

"Will you hurry up and turn off this shower??!"

"I'm on it, I'm on it…

"System.exit(1);"

Kari put her voice over the PA, and said, in the most computer-like voice she could generate, "System halted. Fatal error." The lightning and thunder and wind promptly stopped.

"Thanks," Tina said, taking off her sweatshirt and wringing out about a liter of water. (Really, she had hidden a water balloon in the huge front pocket of the shirt, which burst the moment she squeezed it. She wasn't wet at all.) "That was a real soaker."

"It wasn't supposed to be. I misplaced the decimal point in the double rateOfDischarge. So…anyway…where were we?"

"Um…you were about to let me cross the bridge."

"Of course! Be my guest and---hey, wait a sec! No, I wasn't! I was about to ask you the three questions."

"What kind of questions?"

Youngdramon answered darkly, "The Satire-on-America version of the millionaire game."

"What if I get a question wrong?"

"It varies from wizard to wizard. Some wizards take your money, others skip steps when you click the 'next' button…as for me, I'm thinking atomic wedgie."

Tina let out a disgusted sigh. "Okay, ask away."

"Question number one: what is 2 + 2? Is it (a): 4 (b): I want to file a lawsuit (c): I declare war on you, or (d): Pass the cholesterol, please."

"Tina gave the question some thought, and then gave her thoughts question," Kari narrated into the microphone. "It was a tough call; all those seemed to be appropriate answers. But she finally came to this conclusion:"

Tina said, "It's D."

"Is that your final answer?"

"Sí, it is."

"C your final answer?"

"That would be it."

"B?"

Tina looked like she was straining to hear. "Eh?"

"A? You're right. Next question: When did the Titanic sink? Is it (a): I think I'll use subjectivisation to solve all my problems, (b): 1912, (c): buy now, pay later, or (d): I want to make all of Latin America learn English?"

"Tina gave the question some thought, and then gave her thoughts question," Kari narrated into the microphone. "It was a tough call; all those seemed to be appropriate answers. But she finally came to this conclusion:"

"It's C."

"Final answer?"

"That's D one."

"D?"

"Actually, I've got another question coming, so the correct article here is not 'the' final answer, but 'a'."

"A?"

"That it would be."

"B? You're right again! …This is too easy; I've gotta come up with a stumper…What's the volume of Gabriel's Horn?"

"Oh, that's easy. ∫1∞ π dx/x2 = π; that's the easiest hard question in the book---"

"Wrongo! Gabriel isn't blowing his horn at all, so the volume is cranked to zero! _ Sayonara, baby!_ Now, let me see how this wedgie incantation works…

"class Underwear extends Clothes

{

public static void main()

{

int---

"Hey, what're you doing?! You can't just leave like that when you---"

Tina wasn't listening. She stepped over Youngdramon and began handing out candy to the front row. Youngdramon angrily snapped her staff in two. "Cody was right: magic _is_ evil! This job sure isn't getting _me_ any perks!"

The children were laughing hysterically as they eagerly accepted hugs and kisses---the hugs from Tina and the kisses from out of the backpack---and they all felt a lot better after this skit. (And it was all too endearing to hear one of the orphans say, "I bet you need a hug after walking through a storm like that," and then everyone agreed.) Tina and Youngdramon had done their jobs for that day. Or so they wished…

******

"Great…_real _nice job, watching construction in the sleet," Ewemon muttered, fluffing up its sweater.

"Pipe down, Ewemon. It's the first job you've done right," The Unnamed Figure shot back.

"Thanks for the complement," Ewemon sneered. "Frankly, I don't see what good this does us."

"You will. You know what they're constructing?"

"Do I care?"

"This is going to be the biggest ator factory that they've ever made _yet_. This will be able to crank out three giantors every minute. That'll give the so-called 'heroes' something to reckon with."

"It's not useful if it takes our jobs!" Blackgatomon snarled. "If the sub-major doesn't need our help, he'll drop us like a hot potato!"

"This won't take our jobs at all," he answered. "They've got something special in mind for _me_, at the very least…"

"Such as?"

"Top secret information, kitty-cat. I'm not in the mood to share. But I think it wouldn't be that bad a light show for you to watch this little arrangement," he added, pointing to the lift-tors walking away from the new machine.

"**Clave-tor-d'dhor, noh kreshnaiona djom…clave-tor-yond'dhor!**"

"That _is_ a beast," Ewemon admitted.

"And _we_ get to lead its minions on their way," The Unnamed Figure added as staggered bursts of light let out a man-droid every second. Every four mandroids that exited the factory merged into gorillouts. "At this rate, we'll be unstoppable…!" 


	46. Chapter 45: Impressive Displays

Chapter 45: Impressive Displays

"You mean that all we have to do is get touched by one of those stone-things, and then we get enough energy to do an Ultra Attack, chi?" Moochi asked.

"That's the way it worked for me," Hare answered. I was Firabbit, and Brock hit me with his fire stone. Then I feel a rush of energy and shoot two huge fireballs at Rainmyotismon…and boy, did that digi-clone earn it!"

Tiger snorted. "Was Renamon impressed?"

"I was too focused on the battle to glance over and check," Hare answered. "I bet you've never had that feeling," he taunted.

"I oughtta eat you…!"

"_CHI!!_" Moochi cut in. "I've heard enough of you two fighting, chi!" He ran away in an emotional wreck.

"What's the problem with him?" Suezo asked.

"Sensitive," was Golem's one-word answered. "But he's right…you two fight too much."

Tiger and Hare looked back at each other…and it was apparent that both of them were determined to win the fight over Renamon. But, since fighting _each other_ wasn't an option…

******

"What do you mean 'I should come along'?" Renamon asked.

"What do you mean, 'What do you mean, "I should come along"?'?" Tiger and Hare asked in unison.

"What do you mean, 'What do you mean, "What do you mean 'I should come along'?"?'?"

"What do you---mean---" Hare could see where this was going. "What's keeping you from coming with us? This is a hunt for leftover obelaser spires and unfairy-ring factories; we need to destroy them all before we can get any leverage in this war."

"I'm not as much use to you since Rika lost the warp-digivolution card."

"Oh, but how many mega-level opponents do you see in a day?" Tiger asked. "And even if you do, we have a trick up ours sleeves for them."

"Like what?"

"You'll see."

A bead of sweat trickled down the back of Renamon's head as she realized that these two weren't taking "no" for an answer. She decided to get Rika and play along---hoping that they wouldn't find anything too terrible.

Of course, Yolei want their party to be even bigger: she made Ash and Tina tag along, too. This wasn't something Tiger and Hare had counted on, but they figured they could still keep the act together.

"So…where do we start looking for leftover spires?" Renamon asked.

"Over this-a-way," Hare pointed.

"Any particular reason that we're going that way?" Ash asked.

"No…none I can think of, anyway," Hare answered. It became obvious that he was lying as time progressed, and they finally came to what they were looking for: it was a park that was loaded down with obelasers. Why the Linonians had decided to fill a place so completely with the spires was beyond them, but one thing was for sure: destroying the obelasers would throw a monkey wrench into the Linonians' plans.

"Jackpot!" Hare shouted as they had to dodge a blast of the obelasers' Ota V'ver attack.

"If this is good, I'd hate to see bad!" Rika shouted. "How are we supposed to attack these if we can't digivolve?"

"We go a little ways outside their range and _then_ module-evolve!" Hare answered.

"Why just module-evolve?"

"Remember the 'secret trick' we have up our sleeves?" Tiger asked.

Rika wasn't sure she wanted to know, and Renamon was even less sure: she knew that this was probably to impress her. She wasn't inclined towards being impressed, but she retreated with the rest of them to behind a building.

"Ready?" Hare asked, holding the digi-egg of friendship out to Tiger.

"Ready!" Tiger answered, holding the digi-egg of courage out to Hare.

"**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**"

"**Tiger, module-evolve to…Thunderdog!**"

"Pidgeot, I choose you!" Ash shouted, tossing out his biggest bird's pokéball.

"So…do we do anything?" Rika asked.

"It doesn't look like we do; no," Renamon answered.

"So we are just along for the ride?" Rika's mouth dropped open. "I can't believe we came along just because---" Rika's sentence trailed off as Firabbit dragged her away, towards the park.

Another blast flew out at them, and that was easy enough to dodge.

Ash shouted, "Pidgeot, use Mirror Move!" Pidgeot fired the beam right back at the tip of the obelaser, and it didn't stand the hit.

"Ash, quick! Hand me your fire stone!" Hare shouted.

"I don't _have _a fire stone!" Ash shouted. He pulled a white-and-yellow evolution stone out of his pocket. "I have this Thunder Stone, though!"

Pikachu snorted.

Ash chuckled. "I won't use it on you, Pikachu! I'll use it on Thunderdog!" Ash touched the stone to the advanced monster and took a step back.

"Static Warhead!" he shouted as some of his lightning combined into a huge missile that went flying into the field of spires. A row of spires toppled to the ground. "Again!" Thunderdog shouted. Ash threw the stone at Thunderdog, this time, and Thunderdog caught it. He fired again and again into the field, and before long, all the obelasers were toppled. "Nothing to it!" Thunderdog shouted happily.

He was wrong: a loud, "Qarosh Fla!" sounded from the field, and the obelasers rebuilt themselves.

"Don't you remember that you need to hit the _tops_ of these spires to destroy them?" Renamon asked.

"There's one good piece of news," Rika answered. "They can't stop digivolution if they're busy rebuilding themselves! ** Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Renamon, digivolve to…Rufusmon!**"

"And now, if I can do this again and quick enough…**Digi-modify! Matrix Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Rufusmon, digivolve to…Cyberrufusmon!**" Cyberrufusmon flew above the rebuilding spires. "Laser UZI!" she shouted, letting fly dozens of blasts of energy. Each time an obelaser point was hit, another obelaser went down.

"This is taking too long…**Digi---**"

"Wait!" Ash shouted. "Have her shoot at Pidgeot, and tell her to aim to miss. It'll let him use Mirror Move and help her!"

"You heard him, Cyberrufusmon!"

"Laser UZI!" The warning shots of blue sparks went flying past Pidgeot, and Pidgeot memorized the attack.

"Now, Mirror Move, Pidgeot!" The two fighters began to furiously attack the obelasers, and it wasn't long before they all fell.

"Okay! I'd say that's enough fighting for one day," Firabbit sighed.

"And _you_ didn't even launch a special attack!" Cyberrufusmon spat as she regressed back to Renamon.

"Maybe not, but---"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" A purple wave of energy flew at them and splashed the pavement with destruction. It narrowly missed them.

"Ooo, some more fighting for one day!" Thunderdog observed. "Static Warhead!" he shouted again, setting his foot on the Thunder Stone. A missile of electricity flew out at the giantor and knocked it into scrap metal. "That wasn't so hard!" he smiled.

"It will be," a voice that they all knew and hated said. "And those two girls will be a great addition to my collection!"

Tina snorted. "What's the matter with you? You never win, and you're always like this: all you want to do is womanize! _Why_?"

"Because it's fun," he answered.

Over the course of the next second, Tina wondered how such a seemingly-nice person can turn out to really be such a horrible ogre as this Unnamed Figure. But she cast the thought aside as she realized what was about to be necessary.

"**Digi-modify!**** Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Darkpatamon, digivolve to…Avatarmon!**"

"**Pangolimon, digivolve to…Glyptodomon!**"

"**Digi-modify!**** DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Glyptodomon!**"

"**Avatarmon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Shakkoumon!**"

Two more giantors stepped in and flanked Shakkoumon. The three huge menaces towered over the heroes, but, fortunately, size meant a lot less than firepower.

Unfortunately, these enemies had both: they combined their attacks and targeted the heroes, trying to destroy them in one fell swoop: "Yon YoNon Gazrii!"

"Harmonious Spirit!"

The blue-and purple mess flew at them, but Thunderdog fired back at the blast and cancelled it out. "You won't defeat us that easily!" Thunderdog spat.

"Hmm…you're right…so… **Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Shakkoumon, mega-digivolve to…Totemmon!** Destructor Beam!"

Thunderdog dodged the shot, and it was so narrow that it didn't hit anyone else. But it cut a hole in the ground that extended all the way down to the storm sewers. "Whoa…this guy isn't the best opponent to pick…but neither am I! Static Warhead!"

The missile flew at Totemmon, and was about to hit it in the mouth, when it returned fire: "Destructor Beam!" The missile evaporated, and Thunderdog took a direct hit and regressed back to a weary and immobile Tiger.

Ash picked up the Thunder Stone. "You made a mistake, using that powerful an attack! Pidgeot, did you get a good look at how that thing did that?"

"Pidg-oooo!"

"Then Mirror Move!" Pidgeot exhausted himself doing this, but he returned fire at Totemmon and sliced it down the middle. It became a swell pair of hair-pipes for any potential skateboarders, and was just as alive most half-pipes.

"Pidgeot, return!" Ash shouted, seeing that his friend was now too exhausted, even to fly.

The Unnamed Figure snarled in disgust. "Another faulty digi-clone! I have to admit that your Pidgeot was really impressive, but you've worn him out, and now there's nothing standing between you and these _praze-ator-arliitu_!"

"We still are!" Youngdramon shouted, looking up at The Unnamed Figure.

"_You_?! HA! I'll fragment your data, and I'll enslave your human friend for the rest of her life!"

"I'm in on this, too!" Ash said.

"Pi-_ka_! Pikachu snarled. He wanted revenge for when The Unnamed Figure had killed him as Thunderbard.

"Be my guest. Your head will look great, stuffed and mounted on my wall---"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

"Ho-hum…"

"**Ikudramon, digivolve to…Hydramon!**"

"…You know, you're beginning to irritate me. Sick 'em, boys!" he shouted to the giantors.

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" The purple waves of flame flew at Ash and Tina…


	47. Chapter 46: Scores Getting Higher

Chapter 46: Scores Getting Higher…

Yolei felt unbelievably contented: she was in the same room with the rest of her family. This was a thing that very few other people could say for themselves. But her sister, father, mother, and husband were all in the same room together…the only thing missing was Tina. Yolei was thinking hard about this, and it was apparent that she was deeply pensive…

"Yolei, what is it?" her mom asked.

"It's nothing…it's just that…" Yolei sighed. "If you had known back in 2001 what all was going on with me and Hawkmon, would you have punished me and put me in a convent to protect me?"

"Probably."

"But what if you had done the same stuff as a child?"

"…Yolei, why are you asking such hard questions?"

"It's my daughter, Tina."

"I can hardly believe that my baby has a baby," Mrs. Inoue sighed. "It's just…too…_much_! And yet I see so much of you in Tina, and vice versa…she acts a lot like you did when you were her age, although she's a bit more adventuresome…"

"I know, that's the problem…I just sent her to baby-sit one of our spire-hunting parties…and…I'm worried about her."

"Now you know how I feel every time you go out there."

Yolei hadn't realized that she was causing her own mother grief. "You feel this way about _me_??"

Mrs. Inoue sighed. "Yes…I do."

This was beyond Yolei: Yolei wasn't a girl anymore. Yolei was a woman, trapped in a girl's body. Her mother looked at her with her eyes and saw a girl, but she looked at Yolei with her heart and saw a woman…which was beyond her mother's understanding, too. Her mother's last memory was of Yolei as a girl, and now, she was a woman. This situation was alien to both women, but there was one thing that hadn't changed: they loved each other.

"Mom…I know I can handle this. I saved the world back in 2001, and I can do the same thing now."

Mrs. Inoue nodded slowly. "I believe you…after a situation like this, I'm ready to believe anything. But there's one thing I realize: if you can save the world, so can your daughter. She is what you are…and what your husband is. I know she can help this miserable planet."

Yolei sighed. "I keep telling myself that…but it doesn't take away how much it scares me when she's out there."

"I keep telling myself that you're good at your job while you're out there, too, and that doesn't help me feel better, either. That's how it is; it's the paradox of motherhood: you love your child, and yet you don't want to give them freedom. But it's just how things are." She put an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "And I know you can adapt."

Yolei sighed. "Thanks, mom."

"Don't mention it."

Davis was sitting next to them, munching potato chips and watching television, as usual. He mused, "All this from a dead woman."

"Huh?" Mrs. Inoue asked.

"Shut up, Davis!" Yolei spat, smacking his head with a pillow.

******

The purple smoke cleared, and was replaced by glowing red smoke---which wasn't even smoke: it was flame. Something had happened, and it wasn't clear what…until a new, huge super pokémon emerged from the dust cloud: Charybdis.

"What?!" The Unnamed Figure asked, mouth wide open.

"I said, '**Hydramon, co-op digivolve to…Charybdis!**'" the huge pokémon spat, in a voice that sounded like Charizard's roar.

"You're another of those steals on the Empire's co-op digivolution, aren't you?"

"What's it to you if I am?" Charybdis asked. "Dragon rage!" she shouted, hurling tornadoes at the two giantors. They were hurled into the air and blew about uncontrollably until the hit each other and smashed to pieces.

"I'd say that it's a good reason for revenge if you are!" The Unnamed Figure yelled back as he summoned more giantors.

"I'm not really liking what you're doing," Charybdis warned, hurling more tornadoes at the incoming menace machines. "And you don't want to see me mad!"

"Ho-_hum_!" he answered.

The battle raged on, and Charybdis couldn't avoid taking a few hits. Finally, she came to this conclusion: "I've had enough of going after these bees: time to attack the queen! Whirlwind!" A blast of air picked up The Unnamed Figure and hurled him away. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Charybdis taunted as she finished off another pair of giantors.

"I'd rather see Team Rocket again than meet that guy again," Ash said. After a pause, he added, "I never thought I'd say _that_!"

"_Piiiii_-ka," Pikachu agreed.

"Do I even want to know?" Tina asked.

"No…and neither would Hydramon, but she does, now," Charybdis answered. "So…seeing as it's a long way back to base, what say you ride me over there?"

"Thanks, Charybdis!" Ash said, climbing aboard. "You know, I was almost afraid that Charizard wouldn't like me if he evolved this high."

"I learned my lesson the hard way to like you, Ash," Charybdis answered.

As they flew off, Rika said, "Man…those machines really seemed to come out of nowhere…and there were a lot of them."

"Come to think of it," Hare agreed, "I've never seen that many giantors in one place before…I wonder where they're coming from…?"

******

"The design of your Totemmon was _clearly_ the reason for your failure," the sub-major said, looking over his report. "We shall terminate those responsible."

"We also need to get rid of that Ash-kid's Pidgeot: it costs them, sometimes, but that Pidgeot can mimic its opponent's moves."

"Indeed…a disturbing problem. We shall have to see to dealing with that… As for your mobility, we are assigning you a new tor to help you."

"Oh, great. Another dumb robot."

"Not this one. It has no DPU of its own and cannot make its own decisions. Although it is a 'smart vehicle', it only acts at your command." The sub-major held up a view-screen for his operative to see.

The Unnamed Figure smiled. "For once, your tor will be a good idea…"


	48. Chapter 47: Horse and Rider Thrown Into...

Chapter 47: Horse & Rider Thrown Into The Sea Air!

This wasn't the best situation, but it was obvious what needed to be done. An icy, freezing rain fell out of the sky, and there was a woman wandering about in it with no clue what she ought to be doing. Tina had a pretty good guess what this was: this woman wasn't really an adult---not in her mind, at least: she was a little girl that time had hurled into adulthood long before she was ready.

Tina told Charybdis to land and whistled loudly. "Hey!"

"H-hey!" she answered.

Tina fished around in her duffel bag, and found a trench coat inside that would be big enough to fit this woman. The woman was walking---or, more to the point, stumbling---towards them. She obviously had hypothermia. Tina ran up to her and set the coat over her shoulders. She would've put her arms through the sleeves, but her arms were folded.

Even though Tina already knew the answer to the question, she asked, "Are you okay?"

The woman was half-gasping and half-sobbing, so she didn't have breath to answer Tina's question. She shook her head.

"You're freezing cold. You need to get to someplace warm. I think we can find you a place."

The woman didn't answer.

Tina sighed. She pulled the carrot-umbrella out of her backpack. Rika rolled her eyes. Tina looked at Rika and asked, "What is it with you and 'cute', Rika?"

"Nothing…nothing at all."

"Good." Tina opened the carrot over the woman's head and decided that she'd need a little more warmth to stay comfortable. Knowing her own skin was warm to the touch, she embraced the woman. "Maybe this will help keep you warm."

The woman nodded.

Tina decided to stop breathing through her nose, at this point: she hadn't noticed before, but the woman had a terrible BO buildup---probably another result of time being torn to shreds. As unbearable as the stench was, Tina kept hugging until the woman's arms unfolded. Tina put her arms through the coat sleeves and tied up the coat.

The woman was obviously feeling better, now…she stared at Tina with a bewildered look on her face: this girl was more than twice her age, so why was she shorter? Her feet seemed so far away from her head…and she wasn't wearing the clothes she had remembered wearing… "What---what's going on?"

"Time is messed up."

"Somebody broke a watch?"

"No-no…watches only tell time; they don't change it. _Time_ is what's messed up. It turned my parents into kids my age."

"That must've been fun."

Tina shook her head. "It's not… How old are you?"

"I'm five…"

"It looks to me like you're thirty-five…time changed you from a kid to an adult."

The woman stood perplexed for a minute…then she started to cry… "I don't wanna be a grown-up…!"

Tina wiped the tears off her face. "It's too late…it doesn't matter how much you cry; you're still going to be grown up."

The woman couldn't stop crying, however: she hadn't learned to take control of her own emotions. "I d-don't wanna be grown up!!"

Tina motioned for the others to keep going. She led the woman with them, hoping her loud sobs wouldn't attract menace machines. She made her sit down on Charybdis's back and they took off again. Tina whispered another prayer for power, and began singing again:

"♫♪When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie,

My grace all-sufficient shall be your supply,

The flame shall not hurt you: I only design

Your dross to consume and your gold to refine."

The woman slowly calmed down. She hadn't understood half the words in Tina's song, but the emotion of hope and love had filtered through. The rain also slowly came to a stop as Tina wiped the tears off her face. "I know you're scared…so is everyone else. Don't worry…there's a light at the end of the tunnel." There was a short pause… "What's your name?"

"Claire."

"Claire…don't worry. You're gonna be okay."

A voice interrupted: "Don't bet on it!" Tina knew that voice. It was The Unnamed Figure, again…but, this time, he was riding a hover-scooter of some kind, and his digi-clones were riding shotgun.

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Trojan Hearse (Torōjān)  
Real Name: Orii-tor-devohl  
Caste: Khnere  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
Ota Telo  
Comments:  
The Trojan Hearse is an experimental menace machine, designed to facilitate faster movement for the Linonian Empire's top human operative. It is armed with three beam cannons and is very mobile and fast. It can be equipped with sidecars that will hold four rookie-level digi-clones. 

Tina sighed. "Didn't we just beat you?"

"That was two days ago!"

"That was two _hours_ ago!"

"Well, it looks like time is on my side then, isn't it? **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

Tina shouted, "Ash! Have Charybdis finish off these things before they evolve any higher!"

"Charybdis, Fire Spin!" The tornado of flame blew at the digi-clones and knocked them off their feet. They landed with heavy damage.

The Unnamed Figure snarled. "Then I'll fight you myself!"

"Please…no fighting…!" Claire whispered.

"He's not giving us much choice," Tina said.

"You'll do what?!" Tiger asked.

"Don't underestimate him, Tiger…he's dumb, but he's not that dumb."

"He won't have much along the line of brains when _I'm_ through with him! Or any other body part, for that matter---Blizzard!"

He was quick with the stick: he steered the Trojan away from the icy blast before the ice hit him.

"See what I mean?" Tina asked.

Knowing Renamon was watching, Tiger spat, "I'm not giving up! Lightning!" The bolts hit the Trojan, but they didn't do as much damage as he had hoped.

"Fire Bomb!" Hare shouted, joining in the fight. The fireball narrowly missed.

"My turn!" The Unnamed Figure squeezed the trigger on his control stick, and a trio of purple laser beams flew out and hit Hare and Tiger.

"Hare, Tiger, are you two all right?" Renamon asked.

"Never felt better!"

"Those laser beams are great for your complexion." (In reality, the lasers had burned their fur where they had hit.)

"You've had your turn, and now it's mine!" Charybdis spat. "Whirlwind!"

The Unnamed Figure pressed a few buttons on his Trojan's control panel, and his lowest cannon aimed at the ground and shot an anchoring harpoon at the pavement. He held on to the Trojan for dear life, and the Trojan managed to weather the attack without being blown away. Gasping for breath, The Unnamed Figure said, "I don't know why I bother---"

"Neither do _we_!" Ash spat.

"---fighting you this way when there's a much easier way to go about things!" He pressed some more buttons on his D-Gauntlet, and more giantors came lumbering in.

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!"

Charybdis took off into the air to dodge the attacks. "There are too many to take, this way!" Charybdis shouted. "We're going to have to retreat!"

"Where to? We can't just lead them back to base!" Hare shouted.

Ash shouted to Charybdis as they got out of hearing range, "If you circle around the base enough, everyone will see that we're being followed, and they'll send somebody to counterattack!"

"Who would have the kind of strength it takes to fight all these giantors, Ash?" Charybdis asked.

"I don't know…"

******

It was a strange thing that they had done to conceal their presence, but it was effective: they had set up a wall of two-way mirrors that looked like windows from the back and like mirrors from the front. The entire atrium of the college hall was covered in these mirrors, and so anyone who looked in wouldn't see their guards looking out.

Willis was one of these guards, and he saw that Charybdis was being chased by the giantors. "Whoa, boy!" he muttered as he saw that there were about eighteen giantors in the group. "This is _not_ good!" He raced through the passageways and halls of the college to Yolei's office. "One of ours is being chased by umpteen giantors!"

"Why would they be putting that much effort into getting one of ours? Which one is it?"

"I don't know, but it was a huge, red dragon with a tornado of fire for a head!"

"Sounds like Charybdis…a new one for us. She's a super pokémon."

"Well, even a super pokémon isn't going to last with those odds. What can we do?"

"I have an idea…"

******

"**Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**"

"**Altairmon!**"

"**Gatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Swampangemon!**"

"**Swampangemon, mega-digivolve to…Abyssangemon!**"

Abyssangemon stood with her back to the wall, hiding in an alleyway until the giantors had passed. Fortunately for Charybdis, the super pokémon was much faster than the giantors. Unfortunately, the giantors weren't giving up.

Charybdis flew past the alleyway.

"Get ready," Yolei whispered. They could hear and feel the footsteps of the huge menace machines as they followed their friend. But they knew what to do: as soon as the giantors passed, Abyssangemon jumped out of the alleyway.

"Justice Portal!" she shouted, making a huge, red vortex that was big enough to suck in the giantors. The giantors weren't about to be sucked in, though: they ran away from the vortex and towards Charybdis. "All right then…Manacle Blaster!" Abyssangemon swung her chain at the giantors, and bolts of lightning tangled the robots together with chains. The whole mess of them was immobilized, and they slowly were dragged backwards into the vortex. The vortex sealed itself with the giantors inside, and that was the end of that gaggle of menace machines.

The Unnamed Figure hastily broke off his attack and headed back for base.

Tina jumped off Charybdis's back and hugged her mom. "Thank, mom…I didn't know Abyssangemon had those kinds of moves, but---"

"Hey, I wouldn't let you down," Abyssangemon said. Tina couldn't tell through her vapor mask, but it looked like Abyssangemon was smiling.

Charybdis regressed back to a tired Charizard and Youngdramon. "Remind me not to do that for three solid hours," Youngdramon moaned.

"Youngdramon, are you okay?" Tina asked.

"I've been better…but I could really use some R & R…" 


	49. Chapter 48: Fanily FirstSECOND

Chapter 48: Family First SECOND

"You know what I'd _really_ like to know?" Willis asked.

"What?" Henry asked. "I thought you knew everything!"

"Don't get me started," Willis shot back. "What I'd like to know is which is worse: snow, or rain."

"I'd say that both at the same time are pretty bad."

"I guess," Willis agreed, readjusting his parka. "You'd think that we've had enough of this weather, but it just keeps coming!"

"Too bad," Michael muttered. "But it's not like _we _can do anything about it…"

"Hey, Willis, look!" Terriermon shouted. He was pointing to another obelaser spire.

"You think it knows we're here?" Henry asked.

"I doubt it," Betamon said. "Let's blast it now, before it sees us! **Betamon, digivolve to…** Huh?! It didn't work!"

"We're still in range of the digivolution jamming signal," Henry muttered.

Willis cut in, "There's a way around these spires' power. I have the golden egg of intellect along, so…**Golden armor, energize!**"

"**Terriermon, golden-armor digivolve to…Rapidmon, the arsenal of intellect!**" Rapidmon took careful aim at the spire. "Rapid fire!" he shouted, and a pair of missiles flew at the point of the spire. The spire shot one missile out of the air, but didn't recharge itself in time to stop the other.

"One down, who-knows-how-many to go," Rapidmon said.

"Let's just keep at it," Michael shouted over the storm. "And, while we're on the job, we might as well look for some of those unfairy-ring thingies that Tina and June found for us."

"Where would we look for those?"

"The country," Michael answered. "They need loose soil to install the rings!"

"Great…more long-distance hiking in bad weather!" Henry muttered.

"Who said anything about hiking?" Betamon asked. "**Betamon, digivolve to…Seadramon!**"

They all climbed onto Seadramon's back, and they flew off towards the outskirts of Tokyo. They found a few more spires to strafe, but other than that, their voyage was far from successful. They didn't find a single unfairy-ring in the entire north side of the city. But something found them on the way back.

"Aw, great!" Henry muttered. "Do we fight, or run?"

"If we run, he'll know where we're running to, and he'll figure out where our base is! If we trash him, he won't know anything!" Michael answered.

Rapidmon said, "I dunno, Michael…giantors are pretty tough to deal with…"

"So is Megaseadramon!"

"**Seadramon, digivolve to…Megaseadramon! **All right…let's try this the quick way: aim for the head, we both use our attacks on the count of three. One…"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" Megaseadramon dodged under the blast.

"_Three!!_ Rapid fire!"

"Lightning Javelin!" The two attacks struck the giantor's head. They almost had him down. "Again! Lightning Javelin!"

"Rapid fire!" This time, it was finished. "At least there was only _one_ of them…"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!"

"…You had to say that, didn't you?!" Megaseadramon asked as he began dodging the blasts of purple flame that flew at him.

"This is crazy!" Rapidmon said as he jumped off Megaseadramon's back. "Rapid fire!"

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" Another blast of energy flew straight at Rapidmon. In the low visibility of the storm, he didn't see the blast coming before he was knocked to the ground. He regressed back to Terriermon.

"Terriermon!" Willis shouted. "Are you okay?!" There was no answer.

"This is intense!" Henry shouted.

The other Terriermon took off his raincoat and handed it to Henry. "Hit me with a warp-digivolve, Henry!"

"Get ready to rumble…**Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Terriermon, warp-digivolve to…Megagargomon!**" Megagargomon opened fire at the giantors, and the repeated hits slowly began picking them off. It was certainly enough to keep them too busy to use their Yon YoNon Gazrii attacks.

Willis shook his Terriermon. "Come on, speak to me! Come on!" There was no answer. He knew Terriermon couldn't be dead, because digimon disappear when they die. But Terriermon might die very quickly if he couldn't do something… He looked around, and he saw that there was a column of shifting shadows and light nearby…it was a temporal eddy. He began running towards it.

"Willis, what're you _doing_?!" Michael asked.

"I'm getting Terriermon in there!" Willis answered, refusing to stop running.

"Those things are unpredictable! _Anything_ could happen if you go in there!"

"It's worth the risk!" Willis jumped into the vortex of light…and he didn't come out.

"Great…how do we explain this to Yolei?!" Henry asked Michael.

"I don't know…but I think the giantors are a bigger problem! We need to get rid of those things!"

"How are we ever going to do that?! Megagargomon is hitting them with all he's got, and it's too slow…they keep coming at us!"

"Try an upgrade card!"

"I can't: Cleaver told me that, once a digimon from my universe warp-digivolves, we can't use mod-cards on them, anymore. The mods from previous forms will stick if I warp-digivolve them afterwards, but I can't help him now!"

"Then…then Megaseadramon and I will go back to base for reinforcements, while you---"

"Ack!" The noise came from the direction of the temporal eddy. Willis had emerged from it, and he wasn't in the best condition: he looked like he hadn't eaten in a month, and his clothes were worn and full of holes, unable to keep him warm in the slushy weather. But he held two digimon in his arms: one was Terriermon, who had been completely healed but was still tired, and Lopmon, Terriermon's twin brother. Lopmon looked a lot more ready to fight than his brother.

"Willis?!" Henry asked, bewildered.

All Willis said in response was, "Go…Lopmon!"

"**Lopmon, warp-digivolve to…Kerpymon!**"

Michael's jaw dropped: this eddy had somehow given Willis's digivice the hardware it needed to warp-digivolve Lopmon. How this happened was beyond him, but one thing seemed obvious as Kerpymon and Megagargomon wasted the giantors: Willis needed help. Michael took off his own parka and put it over Willis, and then put one of the standard refugee ponchos over himself. It wasn't as warm as the parka he'd given up, but he knew that Willis needed it more than he did. He hoisted Willis onto Megaseadramon's back. "We need to get him back to base, _fast!_" Michael shouted.

"At least these won't get in the way," Kerpymon shouted as he finished off the last of the giantor. "What were they, anyhow?"

"It's a long story, Kerpymon: you've been missing a lot, being erased by time," Terriermon said.

"And…who is this?" Kerpymon asked, looking at Megagargomon.

"My doppelganger, that's who!" Terriermon answered. "But there's no time! We need to get Willis back to our home base! Follow Megaseadramon; he knows the way!"

******

"That's the third time we've been attacked by a horde of giantors!" Yolei spat, pounding her fist on her desk.

"I know," Michael agreed. "They must be diverting a lot of backup to Tokyo---"

Yolei shook her head and interrupted, "They didn't use this many machines to attack us before, even when they were attacking the nuke plant. They've got something new…and, if I remember right, giantors were the _only_ type of machine that was attacking you. There weren't any catamarines, saberstrikes, cybertooths, or any other of their favorites. It was just giantors. That's pretty disturbing."

"What could this mean?" Betamon asked.

Yolei sighed and thought the question over. "The only thing I can think of sure isn't good: it's that they have some kind of giantor factory…one we're going to have to deal with."


	50. Chapter 49: Rules

Sorry for not updating in so long...

Chapter 49: Rules

"The destruction of Totemmon hasn't been _ totally_ to our disadvantage," the sub-major grinned.

"Why not?"

"We have studied the gold card you gave us, and we have found that it is not at all incompatible with your D-Gauntlet. However, your digi-clones cannot use it as they are."

"Can they be modified to be compatible?"

"Not the ones you have now, no. But we can generate new ones that are compatible. There are a number of drawbacks: you will not be able to modify the warp-digivolved clones, but the digivolution to mega will be more liberating than restricting. And the only thing that you'll be able to do with them is evolve them to mega."

"Have you completed the clones we need?"

"We have." Two clones stepped out of the shadows. One looked like a jellyfish covered in eye-like blotches, and the other looked like a bowling ball with bat's wings.

The Unnamed Figure frowned. "They sure don't look like much."

"In these forms, they aren't. In their mega forms, they will be."

******

Big Blue, Gary, Suezo, Sora, and Izzy were plodding along, looking for any hint so as to where the giantors were coming from. There were no people anywhere in the city, which made everything all the creepier.

"We've been walking for hours, and we haven't found one single giantor!" Suezo spat.

"I bet it's even worse for you, since you just have that one foot," Sora thought aloud.

"Not really…I'm used to using just one foot. But, anyway, they aren't coming after us. There's nothing _out_ here. Can we _please_ go back to base, now?"

Sora sighed. "Might as well…"

Izzy shook his head. "It's only a matter of time before we find the giantors…or, more to the point, before they find _us_. If we keep looking, we'll find one."

"If we keep looking, our digimon will be too exhausted to fight," Sora pointed out.

Setting his backpack on the ground, Izzy explained, "It's not our digimon who are supposed to fight. It's Big Blue and Suezo---" Izzy pulled out a pair of digi-eggs from his backpack. "Or should I say, 'Iceborg and Saw-grass'."

Sora sighed. "Okay…but I really think that Suezo's right…"

"What're you talking about, Sora?" Suezo asked. "I'm _always_ right!"

Big Blue rolled his eyes at this exchange.

"I can't believe how conceited that guy is!" Gary muttered. At this, Big Blue stared at him blankly.

They kept walking, and, as Izzy had said, it was only a matter of time before they found a giantor.

"Quick, in here!" Sora whispered, motioning for them to join her inside an alleyway. They looked around the corner at the giantor, and saw that it wasn't alone---not by a long shot: it had another dozen or so following it.

"Yolei was right!" Suezo whispered. "They haven't used this much force all in one place, before, and they _definitely_ haven't used it on something as every-day as _patrol_!"

"It is a disturbing sight," Big Blue agreed. "What are we to do? Shall we module-evolve and counterattack?"

Izzy shook his head. "That would be too risky. We only want to do that if we have to. What we really want to do is figure out where they're coming from. Gary, use Fearow to scout."

Gary really didn't like having to take orders, but he let Fearow out to look around for where the giantors were coming from.

While Fearow was gone, the giantors they had seen had left. "That's a relief," Sora sighed.

Biyomon let out a contented tweet as she stood up and stretched. "Finally! We can move!"

"It may yet be a poor idea to do so," Big Blue thought aloud.

"Why would you say that?" Biyomon asked.

"You _had_ to ask, didn't you?" Suezo asked as slagsters came rolling in.

"**Tentomon, digivolve to…Kabuterimon!**" Kabuterimon took off into the air. "Let's get these things over with fast! Electro Shocker!"

Big Blue separated himself into pieces of rock and went flying at the slagsters. "Tornado!" The slagsters didn't last long in those conditions.

Sora shivered. "I wish that attack wasn't so cold!"

"It's cold attacks that really hurt slagsters," Izzy pointed out.

"At least that was all there was," Suezo sighed. "If there had been more…well, we'd probably be dead, now."

"I _really_ wish you wouldn't say things like that," Sora said. "Even if it's true, it does us no good to think that way!"

"Caution would grant us some assistance, however," Big Blue thought aloud.

"Any particular reason why it would?" Kabuterimon asked.

"Will you _stop_ that?!" Gary asked. "Gyarados, I choose you! See how many canis-tors you can knock out!"

"**Vorre-tor-goludai, noh kreshnaiona djom…vorre-tor-ellis!**" The canis-tors began fusing into their next highest stage.

"They're going to keep going and make their highest level!" Sora cried.

"Not if Gyarados can help it! Gyarados, Hyper Beam!" Gyarados's attack sliced through the cougores and canis-tors easily, and, at first, it didn't look like they would be a problem. But, finally, one of the cougores broke through with one of its own attacks: "Garem Dar!"

Gyarados staggered: he'd been hit with the sonic attack, and he felt very sick to his stomach.

"Gyarados, return!"

"What do we do _now_?!" Sora asked.

"It's not what _we_ do, it's what Megakabuterimon does!" Izzy pointed out.

"**Kabuterimon, digivolve to…Megakabuterimon!**" Megakabuterimon began firing lightning bolts into the fusing cougores before they finished their transformations into cybertooth. It was an easy battle---relatively. As Megakabuterimon regressed back to Tentomon, he said, "Maybe we should get back in the alley, out of sight?"

"Yeah, _maybe_," Sora agreed, picking up Biyomon and carrying her in. Sora yawned. "How long have we been out here?" she asked.

"A few hours. Why?"

"I feel tired enough to fall over and sleep, right here!"

"You might as well," Gary said. "For all we know, it'll be a few more hours until Fearow makes it back."

Sora spread out her poncho on the ground, lay down on it, and tried to go to sleep.

It _was_ a few hours before Fearow came back, and, over the course of those four hours, it had begun to snow.

"Great," Izzy sighed, blowing into his cupped hands. "As if it weren't bad enough that we have to wait here…"

"Relax," Gary said. "There are other ways to keep warm here. Arcanine, I choose you!" The huge, fiery dog came out of his pokéball. "Arcanine, we _ always_ want to make a good impression on the ladies. So stand over Sora so your fur keeps her warm."

Suezo stared at this blankly. "That was…um…"

"_Innovative_," Izzy finished.

"Yeah…what he said."

"Hey, it _works_, right?"

"I guess," Suezo answered, pulling a blanket over his own head. "But I'm not sure what she'd think of it."

"We get to find out now," Izzy said as Fearow soared into sight.

"You think he's found anything?" Suezo asked.

"He wouldn't have come back if he hadn't," Gary answered.

Fearow landed on the pavement in the alleyway, and he made a lot of noise doing it. This woke Sora up, and she found herself face-to-face with a huge, red dog that she'd never seen before. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of her neck. Arcanine looked down and her and licked her face.

Sora went pale a screamed.

"Sora…?" Izzy asked.

"Relax," Gary said, calling Arcanine back. "That was one of ours."

Suezo nudged Big Blue. "So much for making a good impression on the ladies, huh?"

"Indeed," Big Blue agreed.

"So…now that we know where to look, what do we do?" Gary asked.

"Nothing," Izzy answered.

"_What?!_ You had Fearow flying all across downtown for nothing?!"

"No, our goal was to find out where their factory is: not to destroy it---yet. Now we need to get back to base and pick out an assault party."

Gary sighed angrily. "Why can't anything get _done_ around here?"

"Good question," Izzy retorted sarcastically. "Something just _did_ get done, Gary!"

"I don't see how something can be called done when I haven't destroyed the factory, yet."

"You??" Izzy asked. "Why should _you_ be the one to destroy it??"

"Hey, wouldn't it be fitting for me to demolish an evil factory like that?"

"How so?" Sora asked.

Gary chuckled in an almost patronizing way. "Oh, once you've seen me in action, you'll know what I'm talking about."

"Enough with your bloated ego, Gary...let's get back to base, already!"

Izzy peeked out the alleyway and looked to the right. "Looks clear." He stepped out a little ways.

**_WHAM!_** Izzy felt the earthquake of the giantor's footstep before he heard it, and it sent a zing up his spine. He whirled around, and stared with a dropped jaw at the giantor.

"I believe now would be an ideal opportunity for the module-evolution, Mr. Izumi," Big Blue said.

"That's _Professor _Izumi," Izzy spat, tossing them the digi-eggs of persistence and sincerity. "I didn't study for eight years straight just to be called Mr.!"

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass!**"

"**Big Blue, module-evolve to…Iceborg!**"

"Gary, use your evolution stones on them!" Izzy shouted.

"Aw, we won't need an ultra attack to handle these things!"

"Gary, have you ever even _confronted_ a giantor before?" Sora asked.

"No. But I expect this little confrontation to be short. Jolteon, Exeggutor, I choose you!"

"Gary, this is crazy! Those things have the power of a mega digimon; we need your stones for the advanced monsters to do their ultra attacks!"

"Forget it, nerd! I have a better way to finish them! Exeggutor, use Confusion!" The giantors felt the effects of the attack and staggered backwards. One of them even got confused and began attacking the others. A couple of the others trashed the confused one, but the rest focused their attacks on Exeggutor and Jolteon.

"First of all, nobody calls me nerd, and second---"

"_First_ of all, we need to take care of those giantors, and your pokémon just can't cut it!" Sora cried. "You're making a mistake!"

Gary almost seemed to patronize Sora again as he said, "You'll see that these giantors are nothing to worry about. Jolteon, use Pin Missile!" A barrage of white spikes flew out at one of the giantors, and it did little more than stain its chest armor with black ash marks.

"Gary, you're completely insane! Call back your pokémon, and use your evolution stones on Saw-grass and Iceborg _now!!_" Izzy insisted.

Gary pushed Izzy down. "Will you shut up?"

Izzy's jaw dropped. He knew that he'd have to have Yolei flog him, later…assuming that they were going to survive this encounter.

"Exeggutor, use confusion again!"

"_Is_ he crazy?!" Saw-grass asked.

"He is conceited to the point of a bent worldview," Iceborg answered, "And bent worldviews equate to insanity. So yes."

"That logic doesn't surprise me…so what _ can_ we do without the ultra attacks?"

"Not a great deal. Rime Cannon!" A bolt of icy energy flew out of Iceborg's chest and smacked a giantor. It didn't do much damage.

"I see what you mean," Saw-grass admitted. "And I bet his pokémon aren't going to fare any better."

"They will not. I foresee a swift end to his pride and his submitting to Professor Izumi's jurisdiction."

"That'll be the day!" Gary and Saw-grass said at the same time. "Exeggutor, use barrage attack!" This hailstorm of yellow blobs of energy did just as little damage as his previous attacks.

The giantors had been humored enough: "Yon YoNon Gazrii!" They fired huge streams of flame at Gary's pokémon, and neither withstood the attack.

"Exeggutor, Jolteon, return! Arcanine, Gyarados, I choose you!"

"Gary…!" Sora couldn't put her frustration with Gary into words.

"You'll see. Arcanine, Gyarados, dragon rage!" Two twisters flew out at the giantors and combined into a single cyclone. The cyclone flew into the giantors, and knocked one over into another. That damaged them, but they were still alive.

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" they shouted again, and Arcanine and Gyarados were back in their pokéballs fast.

"_Now_ do you believe us that you've got to use the stones?" Saw-grass asked.

"…All right, _fine_! Do things the hard way!" Gary hurled his stones at the two advanced monsters.

As the leaf stone hit Saw-grass, his eye glowed with green energy. "Retina Beam!" he shouted as a green blast of light sliced through a few of the giantor's chests.

Iceborg caught the moon stone in his huge, boxing-gloved fist. He felt energy surge through his body, and he separated himself into several pieces, getting ready to do an ultra tornado attack. "Arctic Typhoon!" he shouted, hurling an unbelievable blast of ice and wind at the giantors. Between the two attacks, the giantors didn't last.

******

Gary had to stop and wonder how he'd gotten into this situation. It really was the kind of situation that needed reflection upon: he was shorn of his shirt, had his hands tied to the wall, and was getting his back whipped. He had never been in so much pain before in his life, and he wondered whether or not it would be a good idea to have his cheerleader squad come in and cheer him up with one of their chants.

Yolei wasn't done with just the whipping: she was going to dress the wounds she'd just given him, too…with Epsom salts! Gary yowled in pain. "What is the _point_ of all this?!"

"You just about got yourself and six other people killed, today. We can't afford that, and you need to be taught the lesson that you can't risk other people's lives, just for the sake of your own pride!"

Gary snorted. "I don't need to listen to any of this, you know---"

"Yes, you do! Let's think about this: out there, there are menace machines that really want to eat you alive. Your pokémon might be nothing to sneer at---"

"They're a lot more than that---"

"Stop interrupting me unless you want another whipping! Your pokémon might be good, but they're no match for giantors. This latest confrontation proves that. So you're stuck with us. And this organization works this way: everybody pulls some weight. Everybody has to listen to orders; everybody has to follow the rules. If they don't, there are problems for someone else: that's why we make the rules to begin with. I know that you only care about yourself and what you can get out of this, but if you don't put something in, we're not letting you get anything out. Now, get to your quarters and get some rest. You'll need it for those wounds to heal."

Those words stuck in Gary's mind: "everybody has to follow the rules." He didn't like the sound of that. He wondered if there wasn't something better out there than "rules"… 


	51. Chapter 50: Opening Moves

Chapter 50: Opening Moves

"I can't believe Gary actually did something like _that_!" Ash thought aloud. "I know he's a blowhard, but I can hardly believe he'd be that _stupid_…"

"Well, he was," Yolei answered. "That's why I've decided that you're going to be using Gary's Fearow."

"…Okay, but Fearow might not like taking orders from an unfamiliar trainer."

"But if Gary tells him to do what you say---"

"I don't know if Gary would do that. I mean, if he's not willing to follow the rules about fighting because he's too proud, he'll probably be too proud to give up Fearow."

"Maybe. But he'll just be getting ten lashes again, if he refuses."

******

It was a wonder that Gary had allowed this: Ash was calling the shots with Gary's Fearow. Fearow was leading them straight to the cemetery where the orphanage had been a few days before. That was odd, but they knew that it was as likely as any place to set up a giantor factory.

The second they saw the factory, they were bewildered: it was a field of purple mushrooms that were spitting out a man-droid every second or so.

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: In-tor-net (Intōrunetto)  
Real Name: Clavi-tor-yond'dohr  
Caste: Yon Atat Nem Tor  
Modes: One  
Special Attacks:  
Yon YoNon  
Yon YoNon H'vekk  
Comments:  
The in-tor-net is composed of seven unfairy-rings. It has a total of forty-two purple mushroom heads. In the middle of the in-tor-net, there is a large command dome, equipped with a huge cannon that has about the firepower of a mega digimon. The in-tor-net is capable of making other ator at a dangerous rate and is difficult to destroy, as it is well-fortified and defended. 

"What _is_ that thing?" Tai asked.

"I don't know," Metalgarurumon answered. "But we need to take it out!"

"Now would be a good time, Tai," Agumon said as they saw the In-tor-net's main dome charging up for something.

"You've got it!"

"**Agumon, warp-digivolve to…Wargreymon!**" Wargreymon put his wing panels together into a shield. "Brave shield!" he shouted as a force field flew out to deflect the attack.

"Yon YoNon!" A huge, purple blast of light few out at Wargreymon, but the attack was completely absorbed.

"This isn't what we had bargained for," Blackwargreymon thought aloud.

Ghenki pointed out, "It can do a lot of damage to us, but the sooner we destroy the thing, the less chance it has to do damage! And it's got to be a sitting duck, since it can't move."

Metalgarurumon decided to test Ghenki's theory. "Metal wolf claw!" A barrage of missiles went flying at the In-tor-net, but those missiles didn't even land a hit: they were all destroyed when they hit some kind of force field.

"You mean we've got to get through a force field before we can do any damage?" Davis asked. "No way!"

"_Yes_ way!"

They knew who that voice belonged to, and it was the worst possible time for him to decide to show up.

"Can't you see we're busy?!" Ken spat.

"Oh, but I couldn't help but stop by---considering that you're trying to damage the Empire's property!! **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

"Two can play at that game!" Davis shot back.

"**Veemon, digivolve to…Exveemon!**"

"**Wormmon, digivolve to…Stingmon!**"

"Oh, so you want to dance, huh? **Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon, digivolve to…Houndramon!**"

"**Pestilimon, digivolve to…Centimon!**"

"Ho-_hum_!" Davis shot back. But he thought to himself, _I hope Exveemon's ultimate form isn't going to be weak…_

"**Exveemon, digivolve to…Raptormon!**"

"**Stingmon, digivolve to…Cicadamon!**"

The Unnamed Figure looked over the two ultimates. Raptormon looked like a huge T-rex with a pair of laser cannons on his back, and Cicadamon looked like a huge, metallic beetle. "Those two forms are impressive, I'll admit…in fact, I'd like to see just how those guys are really going to fare against my digi-clones. Houndramon, Centimon! Attack!"

"Thunder Torrent!"

"Lightning Tether!" The two electric attacks flew at Cicadamon and Raptormon.

"Raptormon, fly for it!" Davis shouted. Raptormon dodged the attack with incredible speed, but he never left the ground during his dodge.

"I _can't_ fly in this form, Davis!" Raptormon answered.

"Aw, _man!_"

"**_I_** can still fly!" Cicadamon shouted, opening his wings and zooming over Centimon's and Houndramon's heads. "Acoustic destroyer!" he shouted as he flew over, hitting both digi-clones with a sonic attack. The clones staggered. "Now, Raptormon! Let's hit them with all we've got! Antennae Blaster!"

"Desperado Laser!" The two ultimate digimon pummeled their evil clones with blast after blast of machine-gun like fire.

"This just plain isn't working!" The Unnamed figure spat. "**Digi-modify!**** Recovery, activate!**"

Raptormon snorted in anger. "Any damage we do, he's just going to heal!"

"He won't be able to heal it once he's Co-op digivolved!" Takato shouted.

"In that case, we'd better force him into co-op digivolving by doing that, ourselves!" Davis said.

Ken nodded.

"I'm one step ahead of you, even into your own so-called 'trap'! **Digi-modify! Co-op digivolution, activate!**"

"**Houndramon, co-op digivolve to…Saberus!**"

"**Centimon, co-op digivolve to…Maggonet!**"

"We're still on your tail, Terrance!"

"That's not my real name, you know---"

"Ash! Tracy! Get your pokémon ready!" Ken shouted.

Ash and Tracy hurled their pokéballs at Davis's and Ken's digivices… 


	52. Chapter 51: Victory Keeps Shifting

Chapter 51: Victory Keeps Shifting

"**Raptormon, co-op digivolve to…Terrasaurus Rex!**"

"**Cicadamon, co-op digivolve to…Mantaser!**"

The Unnamed Figure had to admit that these two were nothing to sneer at: Terrasaurus Rex was much bigger than his two super pokémon, and Mantaser's sickle blade looked very sharp… "Maggonet, supersonic attack!"

"Mantaser, hit him with Zap Cannon before he can go there!" Tracy shouted. Mantaser's claw opened, and a cannon stuck out and shot Maggonet. It scored a direct hit.

"Saberus, use Super Fang on Terrasaurus Rex!"

"Terrasaurus Rex, use Earthquake!" The ground shook beneath Saberus's feet so much that he couldn't move. "Great work, Terrasaurus Rex! Now, try Rock Slide!" Terrasaurus Rex tilted its head backwards, and then snapped it forward again. A slab of rock flew out of its horn and smacked Saberus.

"Saberus, use Swift attack!" A barrage of yellow stars shot out at Terrasaurus Rex. Being a rock-type, the attack didn't do much. "Now, use Fly!" Saberus made a completely unexpected move as a pair of bat-like wings extended from its back and it flew into the air. Its attack wasn't very effective against Terrasaurus Rex, though.

"Mantaser, try Double Team!" Mantaser seemed to clone himself into a dozen copies, and Maggonet really didn't know which one to attack.

"Maggonet, Lock-on!" A laser beam flew out of Maggonet's eyes and disrupted each clone, then the beams hit Mantaser. He was sighted for Maggonet's next attack.

"Maggonet, use Sonic Boom!" A tornado of sonic energy flew at Mantaser, and Mantaser couldn't dodge.

"Ash, this isn't getting us anywhere…let's switch opponents!"

"Fine by me! Terrasaurus Rex, use Earthquake on that Maggonet!"

"_NO!!_" The Unnamed Figure shouted. He was too late: Maggonet was definitely feeling the effects of the ground attack on its electric body.

"Mantaser, power up with Swords dance, and then use Metal Claw on Saberus!" Mantaser flew at Saberus with his sickle ready to attack.

"Saberus, Tri attack!" The fire attack was easy to dodge, the electric was a little more difficult, and the ice attack hit him squarely in the chest. But he had a half-steel body, so it wasn't effective. Mantaser stabbed Saberus, and Saberus regressed back to Dodrio and Ewemon.

Meanwhile, Tai and Matt were having no success attacking the In-tor-net. "All right…let's try all our attacks together. On the count of three. One, two _three_!"

"Nova Force!"

"Terra Destroyer!"

"Metal Wolf Snout!" The three attacks flew at the force field, and all three were absorbed.

"This is unbelievable!" Tai spat.

"Let's go for Omegamon, Tai!" Matt said.

"Right!" They clapped their digivices together…and nothing happened.

"Ghenki, whatever you did to make Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon digivolve the last time, do it again!"

"I don't see what there is for me to _do_…I mean, all I did was just barely touch the screen…maybe I accidentally jiggled one of the buttons on it…?"

Tai wiggled the buttons on his digivice, and that didn't help either. "Aw, _ man_!!"

"It's not getting any prettier, Tai!" Matt said as he saw man-droids fusing into another giantor.  
"What're we supposed to _do_?! …Wargreymon, take care of that giantor, while Blackwargreymon and Metalgarurumon go for the force field!"

"On it, Tai!"

"Don't count _me_ out!" Mantaser shouted as he flew after Wargreymon to intercept the giantors.

The In-tor-net was getting ideas of its own: "Yon YoNon!" it shouted, firing a huge ray blast at them.

Blackwargreymon took off his wing panels and made them into a shield. It reflected the blast into the air. "Perhaps digging under the earth and getting at it from there would be useful," Blackwargreymon suggested.

"We don't have any super-powerful digging digimon; the closest thing would have to be Excavatemon or Moleg…but we didn't bring either of those…!"

"I've got it covered," Ash answered, as he had the Unnamed Figure in a headlock, Maggonet down for the count, and Terrasaurus Rex advancing against the In-tor-net. "Terrasaurus Rex, dig underground and attack that menace machine!"

"Not so fast, kid!" The Unnamed Figure hurled Ash away from himself. Pikachu tried without success to shock The Unnamed Figure for that. "I've still got the trump card!" He brandished a black card that had a few Linonian characters written on it. "Recognize this?"

"This doesn't look good, Guilmon," Takato said. "Time for action! **Digi-modify! Upgrade, activate! Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Guilmon, warp-digivolve to…Gallantmon!**"

"Two can play at this game! **Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Keramon, warp-digivolve to…Armagemon!**"

"**Demidevimon, warp-digivolve to…Venommyotismon!**"

Tai stood with his mouth wide open. "You've…you've got to be kidding me!"

"You wish, Tai…you wish…"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Okay, okay…maybe saying that Devimon's ultimate form is Myotismon is a little bit of a stretch, but, then again, maybe not. You see, Devimon had a red, bat-like insignia on his chest, and Myotismon carries that same insignia on his shoulders and hands. Venommyotismon also has that insignia on his hands, so it's not that big a stretch to say that they're in the same evolution chain. Also, I've noticed that mega forms and champion forms of digimon tend to have a lot in common: Greymon shoots fireballs, and Wargreymon shoots fireballs. Garurumon fires a blue blast of energy out his mouth, and so does Metalgarurumon. Imperialdramon's attack is Positron Laser, a similar name to Vee Laser. Also, this attack---in fighter mode, anyway---comes out of his wrist, the same place where Lightning Spike comes out with Stingmon. So, you can see, there is a correlation between the champion and mega forms of digimon. Venommyotismon and Devimon seem to fit the bill: both have two, long horns, very long arms, and wings that look like somebody shot them with an UZI. So I really don't think this is that big a stretch. 


	53. Chapter 52: Swing Digivolution

Chapter 52: Swing Digivolution

"All right…so…if we _don't_ make Omegamon, we're basically toast, right?" Tai asked.

"You tell _me_; you're the leader, Tai!"

"…If he's got clones of those two, then, chances are, those clones are going to have the same weaknesses as the megas we faced before!"

"What _are_ their weaknesses?" Ash asked.

"Forget it! You and Terrasaurus Rex need to take care of that In-tor-net!" Davis shouted.

"…Fine! Terrasaurus Rex, ignore those two and go for the In-tor-net!"

"Don't let them go there, Armagemon!" The Unnamed Figure shouted.

"_Let _them go there, Gallantmon!" Takato shouted. "Show 'em what you're made of!"

"Lightning Joust!" Gallantmon's shot hit Armagemon squarely, and that clone felt it. But it wasn't interested in Gallantmon: it was going to obey orders.

"Terminator Blaze!" A fireball flew out of Armagemon's mouth out at Terrasaurus Rex. Terrasaurus Rex dodged out of the way just as the flame flew at him, and the fireball was absorbed into the In-tor-net's force field. It was a good thing he had dodged, too, since another Yon YoNon attack bit into the ground where he had been sitting a moment ago.

"Venommyotismon, if you would kindly handle that other mega…?"

"Lightning Glare!" A quartet of white lasers flew out of his belly at Gallantmon. Gallantmon extended his shield and felt the attacks land. They knocked him backwards, almost into the force field, but he managed to keep alive.

"Careful, Gallantmon," Wargreymon shouted as he torched another few gorillouts before they could fuse into giantor. "Those two are super-powerful; we might not be able to take them without evolving again!"

"I just wish that were possible…too bad, huh? We'll have to take the next best thing, I guess…Takato?"

"Time to play one of _our_ trump cards, boy! …Not literally a card, but still…"

"**Gallantmon, mode-change to…Crimson mode!**"

"That pitiful cross between an angel and a knight is meant to destroy me?!" Venommyotismon asked. "This is a joke! Lightning Glare!"

"Invulnerable Sword!" Gallantmon reflected the attack right back into Venommyotismon's face. "And you're the butt of this joke!"

"Whoa…Gallantmon…!" Takato mumbled. "Gallantmon, your upgrade mod should still be working! Use it hard and fast!"

"That I will, Takato…Lightning Joust!" Bolts of electricity flew out of his swords and jumped onto Armagemon and Venommyotismon. They both felt the effects.

"I just thought of something," Davis shouted. "I know they were powerful, but if we all focus our attacks on them one at a time, they won't stand a chance!"

"It's worth a shot," Tracy agreed. "Mantaser, use Zap Cannon!"

"Terrasaurus Rex, use Rock Slide!"

"Nova Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

"Terra Destroyer!"

"Lightning Joust!" The six attacks flew at Venommyotismon, and he regressed back down to Demidevimon.

The Unnamed Figure had a pretty good guess that this was it for his fight unless he could get some help. There was only one obvious answer.

"Yon YoNon Gazrii!" He began summoning giantors from everywhere to converge on the In-tor-net to destroy the mega digimon that were attacking.

"Lightning Joust!" Gallantmon shouted, trying to cancel the attacks before they could touch him. He eventually got hit and fell to the ground.

"This is total chaos!" Blackwargreymon shouted, dodging two attacks at once.

"Terrasaurus Rex, dig underground and waste on that In-tor-net before things get any worse!"

"Too late!" Armagemon shouted. "Black Rain!" Ash didn't like the sound of that, and immediately fished his raincoat from his backpack…not that he knew what good that would do. He saw black drops of something fall out of the sky…it looked like oil! "He's going to ignite this stuff!" Ash shouted. "Blastoise, Totodile, Lapras, I choose you!"

"Azumerril, I choose you!" 

"They won't be able to save you," the Unnamed Figure sneered.

"But them _and_ Blackwargreymon will! Totodile, rain dance! Blastoise, Hydro pump! Lapras, Ice Beam!"

"Azumerril, Water gun!" Instead of firing those attacks at Armagemon, they fired the attacks off into the air.

"Black Tornado!" Blackwargreymon shouted, catching the cold, wet attacks in his tornado and siphoning them off into Armagemon's fire attack. The oil was never ignited.

"Guys, we need to get out of here right now!" Ghenki shouted. "He's just going to shoot off another fireball again, and that will ignite this stuff and wipe us out!"

"We've got it covered: Lapras, Blastoise, Totodile, Water gun!"

"Azumerril, water gun!" The four pokémon began washing the oil on the ground away from them.

"I've had my fill of these annoying brats!" the Unnamed Figure snarled. "Armagemon, it's time to---"

He didn't finish his sentence: Wargreymon hurled a fireball into the oil that was near the Unnamed Figure and ignited it. The Unnamed Figure was in shock for a moment, but it wasn't long before his arrogance reasserted itself. "You think that's funny, huh? I'll show you!"

"Terrasaurus Rex, will you start digging, already?!" Ash spat.

"We'll hold him off as long as we can!"

Tai shouted to Ghenki, "I'm not sure what it was that you did with my digivice to make Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon DNA digivolve, but now would be a good time to do it again!"

Ghenki said, "I'm telling you, all I did was barely touch the screen, and then suddenly---" Ghenki touched the screen just to demonstrate, and, once again…

"**Wargreymon!**"

"**Metalgarurumon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Omegamon!**"

"_Finally_!" Tai sighed. "How come it only happens when you touch the screen?"

"I dunno…but at least they DNA digivolved."

"Omega Cannon!" The green fireballs flew at the giantors that were so steadily attacking. Each shot demolished another fifteen-plus giantors.

"_Don't interfere_!" Armagemon hissed. "Terminator Blaze!"

"Invulnerable Sword!" Gallantmon reflected the attack right back in Armagemon's face. "This time, you're not going to win!"

It wasn't long before Omegamon finished off all the giantors, and the new crops of fusing man-droids were well within the ability of Ash's and Tracy's pokémon, let alone Blackwargreymon and Mantaser.

"Now, while they're distracted, Terrasaurus Rex…_get under there and finish off In-tor-net, already!!!_"

"On it!" Terrasaurus Rex grunted, beginning his hole once again.

"Armagemon, don't let them go there!"

"Black Rain!" Oil began falling out of the sky again, but Omegamon had an interesting answer:

"Omega Screen!" Wargreymon's shield panel glowed on Omegamon's shoulder, and a force field burst out from the shield. The oil vaporized the second it hit the shield.

"You're no fun!" The Unnamed Figure snarled. He thought to himself, _even with two mega digimon, I wasn't able to defeat this bunch…I'm either going to need to get more power for my D-Gauntlet, or I'm going to have to come up with something clever…_ "I'm glad that I've still got a _couple_ of clones left in reserve! **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**"

"**Digi-modify! DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Nekhbetmon!**"

"**Blackgatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Silphymon!**"

"**Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Silphymon, mega-digivolve to…Rainmyotismon!**"

"Not this again," Tai muttered. "We've faced your stupid clones before! We know their weaknesses!"

"This time, you won't win!" Rainmyotismon spat. Its umbrella morphed into a green laser sword. "Care to dance, tall, red, and handsome?" she asked Gallantmon.

"I'll turn this femme fatale into a fatality!" Gallantmon snarled. "Invulnerable sword!"

"Lightning Dagger!" Rainmyotismon knocked Gallantmon's double-bladed sword away, and Gallantmon gripped his other sword with both hands. The two megas began slugging it out in a swordfight.

"Armagemon, while he's distracted! Focus all your attention on getting rid of Omegamon! I know your original managed that, before!"

"My original didn't face Omegamon with a force field. Maybe if I get a bit more agility…**Armagemon, swing-digivolve to…Diaboromon!**"

"You mean it can pick which mega form it wants to be in _after_ it's digivolved?" Takato asked.

"That's not good," Omegamon grumbled as Diaboromon leapt to a new location. "Somebody pin this thing down! I can't get a bead on it!"

Gallantmon grunted, "I'd love to oblige, but I'm in the middle of something, here! Invulnerable Sword!"

"Lightning Dagger!" The two megas were locked in a draw against each other; neither one could score a hit on the other.

"You'll never oblige again! **Digi-modify! Firepower, activate!**"

Rainmyotismon's sword grew in length and got unbelievably sharp. "It's high time you were finished for good, you red, ugly---"

As he stabbed Rainmyotismon in the back, Blackwargreymon said, "You should talk. …Actually, I'd prefer it if you didn't."

Blackgatomon and Jaymon fell to the ground, exhausted and injured.

"_You're useless!_" the Unnamed Figure howled. "And it wasn't very honorable, stabbing my digi-clone in the back like that---"

"Your digi-clone wasn't very honorable! And now," Blackwargreymon said, shifting his posture and aiming his gauntlet at the Unnamed Figure, "Call off Diaboromon, and we just might let you live!"

"Cable Crusher!" Blackwargreymon felt the blow hit his back and knock him away from his human enemy.

"Terra destroyer!" he shot back. The shot missed.

"This isn't getting us anywhere! We need to finish that thing off, and we need to do it _now_!" Davis said.

"Guess again!" Ash yelled. "Terrasaurus Rex is almost there!"

"Not if _I_ can help it!" Diaboromon snarled. Diaboromon dove into the hole.

"Yes, if we can help it!" Gallantmon, Mantaser, and Blackwargreymon flew into the hole after Diaboromon…


	54. Chapter 53: ConnectionTERMINATED

NOTE: Minute amount of Christian content.

Chapter 53: Connection…_Terminated_…

It was a terrible silence that hung over the cemetery as everyone looked intently at the hole where Terrasaurus Rex, Diaboromon, Gallantmon, and Mantaser had all gathered. It was anybody's guess who was going to come out on top.

Diaboromon made a surprise move: "**Diaboromon, swing-digivolve to…Armagemon!** …Sometimes, bigger _is_ better!" In growing into Armagemon, it had broken up the earth and made caskets fall out of the ocean of dirt that was cascading off its huge, black body.

"Bigger makes for a bigger target, though…Omega Barrage!" Omegamon fired his missiles out at Armagemon, and Armagemon felt it.

"Terminator Blaze!"

"Omega Sword!" Omegamon reflected the fireball straight back at Armagemon. Armagemon batted the blast away.

"Black Rain!"

"Omega Screen! …This isn't getting us anywhere, guys! We're at a stalemate, and without Gallantmon and the super pokémon, I don't see how we can beat this thing!"

"I left them buried alive!" Armagemon said. "When I grew to this size, I made the tunnel cave in!"

"Awh!" Ash spat, half out of surprise, and half horror. "I've just about had enough of this guy!"

"That feeling is shared," Terrasaurus Rex shouted. He was inside the In-tor-net's force field. "Now…how do I actually _attack_ this thing?"

"That's not going to be as easy as it sounds!" The Unnamed Figure shouted, climbing onto Armagemon's back. "I've got manual control of its weapons array! Now, Yon YoNon!" A purple charge of light flew out at Terrasaurus Rex. He wasn't quick enough to dodge, and was barely staying in his present form.

Terrasaurus Rex shook off the blow, and, despite his throbbing head, he'd destroy this machine. He gripped the dome that was in the middle and pulled…and _pulled_…and he finally began to feel it give. He also heard its weapon charging up. "Oh, _yeah_?!" he asked. He shook the In-tor-net and began turning it in all directions.

"Wha---_no_!" the Unnamed Figure shouted: he couldn't get a steady view or get a fix on what he was supposed to be firing at. Finally, the screen came to rest on Omegamon---who had his back turned to the In-tor-net. "Say your prayers, Omegamon!"

"Already did!" Omegamon answered. In a single move, he fired his missiles at Armagemon to distract it, whirled around 180°, reflected the shot back at the In-tor-net, and turned around again to face Armagemon. The In-tor-net's attack flew back at it, and, since the attack was at the same frequency as its force field, the shot went through like there was nothing there. Terrasaurus Rex saw this development, and hurled the In-tor-net's dome at the shot. The dome exploded, sending bits of silver flying everywhere. The force field was completely down, and that was the end of the In-tor-net. Omegamon finished, "And God hears prayer!"

"_NOOOOO!!!_" the Unnamed Figure screamed. "You'll pay for this!!! Armagemon, let's get out of here!"

"**Armagemon, swing-digivolve to…Diaboromon!** Cable Crusher!" Diaboromon grabbed the fallen digi-clones with its long arms and leapt away with the Unnamed Figure still on its back.

"You think that's the last we'll see of them?" Ghenki asked.

"I doubt it," Ken answered solemnly.

"I was talking about Mantaser and Gallantmon!"

Ken suddenly realized that his digimon partner was buried alive. "Wha---we've got to help them!"

"No worries," Takato said. "Guilmon has the ability to dig tunnels, and so we should be seeing them about---"

Guilmon's claw stuck up from the ground, and was soon followed by a dirty Scizor, Blackwargreymon, and Wormmon.

"---now," Takato finished. "Guilmon, you're back! ---Man, you look like you could use a bath, boy!"

"No…_not a **bath!**_" Guilmon protested.

"It's not that bad, boy…oh, we'll talk about this when we get back to base!"

"Why wait until then?" Ash asked, looking at his pokémon. He was in the mood to celebrate, and what better way to celebrate a victory than to make your friends wet? (They always do that at football games…)

"No…_NO!_" Guilmon shouted. Water flew at him and he was drenched to the bone.

"Rub-a-bub-bub!" Ash said. "I wish we had some soap, right about now…"

"Could you help me by cleaning out this wound?" Blackwargreymon asked. He was losing blood from a wound on his arm.

"Awh! Lapras, your move!" Lapras washed the wound on Blackwargreymon's arm, and Ash began looking for something he could use as a bandage. "Did Diaboromon give you that?"

"He did…and he seemed very selective in attacking me."

"…I wonder why…?"

******

"Keramon, do you have it?"

"That I do."

"_Good_. I'm just glad he came down with you so you could get it. This will at least keep us in the sub-major's good graces."

"Why exactly did you want it for?"

"Top secret information."

"How is a blood sample going to give you top-secret information?"

"That's top secret information, too, bug!"

"…_Man_! The ways they're encoding top-secret info, these days!"

"Huh?"

"In blood samples!"

"They're not encoding it in this blood sample, you idiot! They need this blood sample so that---"

Keramon taunted, "Who's the idiot, now? You almost gave away the top-secret info!"

The Unnamed Figure slugged Keramon. "Don't you ever make me look stupid again, _YOU HEAR ME_??!!"

******

Cleaver whistled through his teeth. "You said your name was Ghenki?"

"Yeah…why?"

"That's an appropriate name…I'm looking at your subspace scan, and I'm finding out that you have a subspace matrix."

"What??"

"Yeah, and your matrix is just about nothing but one huge vacuole."

"Translation into English, please?"

"You're like a walking subspace battery; your only 'special attack' is to give other SI lifeforms more subspace energy."

"Whoa…actually, I think I did that, once…there was this one evil disc monster that we were facing, once, and he was called Gali. Gali used an energy-leeching attack, and somehow, I gave everyone else enough energy to fight back against him."

"That was your matrix at work…and the funny thing is that your vacuole refills itself continually…if the Linonians get their hands on you, there's no telling what they might be capable of." 


	55. Chapter 54: Backstabbers

NOTE: Christian content

Chapter 54: Backstabbers

"Here's your Fearow back, Gary. Thanks for letting us have him."

"Don't mention it," Gary grumbled.

"…Are you okay, Gary?"

"No."

"…Anything I can do to help?"

"Well, the vibrations that your voice is making sure aren't helping my back!"

"Ouch…I hope you get better, soon."

"Get out of here!" Gary grumbled.

As Ash shut the door behind him, he thought, _What__ put **him** in such a mood?_

"Piiii ka, Pika-pi. Chu, pika pi piKA chu pikaaaaa," Pikachu thought aloud.

"I know…he's usually in some self-centered world of his own. Now, he's gotten grumpy all of a sudden. I wonder why."

"Chu, pika pi KA chu pi."

"Yeah, I guess this _is_ the kind of world where you'd expect people to get grumpy for no reason…but still, that wasn't really like Gary."

******

"There is good news and bad news, sub-major."

An awkward silence hung in the air. The head scientist had seen dozens of his underlings fall to the wrath of the sub-major's whims, and he didn't want to follow them. He also knew that their scientific staff was already shorthanded as it stood; they did not need another terminated scientist. "Continue," was the sub-major's single-word answer. He had not said it in a promising tone, but the head scientist refused to let his composure suffer. As bad as things looked for him, they would only look worse if he didn't look confident.

"The bad news is that, as before, we are unable to clone the tissue."

"And the good?" the sub-major grunted. It was clear that he needed to be humored if the head scientist was going to live.

"The good is that we can, with this information and information from the obtained artifact, design a device that will allow us to take control of the specimen."

"Hmm…"

"Since it has no connection to a digivice, it will not be difficult to take over, and if we can overtake it, then we know now that we will be able to use it---and how to use it once it is ours."

"I see…continue with this project with all speed."

"It shall be ready within the month."

"The _month_?!" the sub-major darkly asked. "I am not willing to wait that long."

"Sir…our scientific staff has been plagued with failures that you have had terminated---ah, which was good---but there has been a disadvantageous side effect: we are understaffed. If you could send for more scientists from the Empire---"

"The Empire," the sub-major grunted with disdain, "is a collection of bureaucratic fools with no idea how to wage war. They will not help us."

"Then…if…you could have other scientists on this world transfer here…?"

"…Perhaps…you are dismissed. But work at this with all speed: I _will_ have that clone!"

"Yes, sir. But there is one other thing…in order for us to use this new clone, we _will_ need to either mothball or do away with two of our current clones."

"Their deaths can be arranged, I am sure. If that is all, you are dismissed."

As the head scientist left, he couldn't help but wonder, _The Empire has been putting all their resources into capturing this world; why would they suddenly choose not to help us? …Unless…there is something that the sub-major is doing that we don't know about, and that displeases the Empire!_

******

"Remind me again why we're in here?" Gatomon asked, squirming in her uncomfortable seat of crumpled paper balls. They were inside a recycled paper dumpster.

"We're in here because it's sunny out," Kari explained.

"And that's a bad thing?!" Gatomon asked, giving up on getting comfortable and trying to jump into Kari's lap.

"It is when you factor Luftwaffles into the picture," Yolei answered. "Those things are solar-powered, remember?"

"Barely…but I can't help but feel like it's going to start raining…"

"That's a feeling everyone gets on Earth, nowadays," Misty thought aloud.

"And they're usually right," Brock added.

Gatomon snorted and shook off her fur. "Well, frankly, I'm sick of this: we have to hide every time anybody sees the sun…I'm tired of hiding and fighting these things!"

"We're _all_ sick of it, Gatomon!" Kari answered, "But these menace machines aren't just going to go away on their own…they need our help for that," Kari chuckled.

"I don't find destruction very funny," Hawkmon cut in.

"Maybe not," Kari admitted. "Say, Moochi, is the sun still out?"

He lifted the lid of the dumpster a little bit and peeked out. "Finally…the sun went behind a cloud, chi."

"Then let's get out of this dumpster, already!" Hawkmon shouted.

They hadn't been walking for two minutes when they heard, "You-hooo…!"

They knew that voice. "There's something else I'm sick of, too!" Gatomon said as she slowly turned around, rolling her eyes. The Unnamed Figure had Jaymon and Blackgatomon at his side on the Trojan.

"Haven't you learned your lesson that you can't win?" Misty asked.

"_You're_ the one who's about to learn a lesson!"

"Heard it, seen it, been there, done that!" Kari shot back. "We've heard that a bajillion times before."

"You won't have to hear it again. **Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**" Nekhbetmon towered over them. "Meteor Blast!" it shouted, hurling white flame out its mouth at them.

"Starmie, Staryu, I choose you! Cancel out that fire with Water Gun!" The two pokémon's attacks were strong enough to cancel the champion digi-clone's attack.

"Impressive, I must admit. But, as I recall, water pokémon are vulnerable to electric attacks, right? Blackgatomon, your move."

"Darkening Claw!" Black bolts of lightning licked Blackgatomon's paws, and, just as they were about to fire out…

"Lightning Claw!" Gatomon cancelled the attack, but she had to put a lot more oomph into her attack than Blackgatomon.

"Oh, why do I even bother with this trivial kind of fighting…?" The Unnamed Figure put another mod-card into his D-Gauntlet. "**Digi-modify!**** Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Nekhbetmon, digivolve to…Remon!**"

"**Blackgatomon, digivolve to…Wickemon!**"

"Go get 'em!" the Unnamed Figure commanded his two ultimates. "I'll handle this…and add these three, fine girls to my collection…"

"Not while I'm around!" Brock spat. "Steelix, I choose you!"

"Magneton, go!"

"What're we waiting for?" Kari asked.

"**Gatomon, digivolve to…Angewomon!**"

"**Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**"

"**Altairmon, digivolve to…Aeroangemon!**" Aeroangemon was a huge, white, eagle-like bird. She had a gold and purple harness around her chest, and she had four heads: one human, one eagle, one lion, and one ox's head. "It's time to test this new form out! Quadrant Beam!" Red lasers flew out of the mouths of each of her four heads and smacked Remon backwards.

"Steelix, dig underground!"

"Thinking of hiding?" the Unnamed Figure asked. "Forget it! Magneton, put them all under with thundershock, so that I can take them in a get a reward!" Just as Magneton was about to fire, Steelix burst up from the ground and smacked Magneton out of the air. "Hey, no fair!"

"The Pokémon League said it was a legal move, and it sure worked on Magneton."

The Unnamed Figure called Magneton back. "This time, I won't be so easy! Houndoom, go!"

Angewomon was having troubles of her own. She aimed her crossbow at Wickemon, and that forced her to get a good, hard look at Wickemon---a thing she had never done, nor wanted to do: Wickemon was unchastely dressed, and its skin looked like it was made out of black plastic. Everything about Wickemon seemed unnatural and evil---not to mention ugly. Angewomon's nose wrinkled back as she realized that this vulgar excuse for an SI life form had somehow been derived from her own DNA. The first words that came out of her mouth were, "You look like a giant happy meal toy!"

Wickemon had a cutting response: "Demon Amulet!" A green skull of energy shot out of its pyramid-shaped, crystal brooch.

Angewomon smacked the skull with the butt of her crossbow and shattered it. "Celestial Arrow!"

Wickemon dodged under the white shot and charged Angewomon. "Say good night, angel-food-cake! Wicked Claw!"

Angewomon folded her wings and dropped to the ground, just as Wickemon flew over.

Angewomon suddenly remembered what she had thought at the Easter Pageant: how Wickemon was what she had once been: working for evil. "You don't have to be doing this, you know," Angewomon said.

"That's true: you could make it easier on yourself and surrender! Then I wouldn't have to fight you!"

"That's not what I meant!" Angewomon said, firing off another arrow. "I mean fighting for evil!"

"What _about_ fighting for evil?" Wickemon spat.

"It's not what you were meant for!"

"Who says?!" Wickemon asked, canceling Angewomon's arrow with another skull of energy. "The Linonian scientists made me for this very purpose!"

"There's a Creator beyond them," Angewomon shouted back.

"Who's that? Your stupid God?"

"Yes, my God: Jesus Christ!"

"Ha! If you think I care at all about what He thinks, you're dead wrong! Demon Amulet!"

Angewomon leapt into the air and dodged away from the attack. "He cares about you!"

"I don't care!"

"You don't have to do this! You can choose to turn back!"

"I choose evil! Wicked Claw!" Angewomon felt one of Wickemon's fingers cut her arm and leave her robe in tatters.

She clutched her wounded arm to stop the bleeding.

"See? I can win this fight," Wickemon taunted.

"Then let's switch fights!" Misty shouted, throwing her pokéball at Kari's digivice.

"**Angewomon, co-op digivolve to…**" 


	56. Chapter 55: Judgment

NOTE: Christian Content

Chapter 55: Judgment

"**Angewomon, co-op digivolve to…Oyarsa!**" Oyarsa(1) was a peculiar super pokémon: she was pearly white all over, and looked as strange as anything. She looked like a statue, but, whenever anyone looked at her, she looked like she was rushing at the viewer with unbelievable speed. However, this must have been some kind of an optical illusion. Other than that, she was covered in leaf-like patterns of green and purple.

"Impressive, I'll admit," Wickemon snorted. "But I've got the same kind of help! **Wickemon, ** **co-op digivolve to…Lilithium!**"

The two super pokémon began slugging it out, and they came to a stalemate quickly.

"This isn't good," Yolei thought aloud.

"If you module-evolved me, we could tip the odds in our favor, chi!"

"Thanks, but we need somebody as a backup in case our digimon and pokémon get too tired," Kari explained.

Moochi sighed. "At least I can help Brock…Moochi Cannon!" Moochi's shot smacked Houndoom. He felt that hit…

"Steelix, use Rock Throw one more time!"

"Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" Steelix took some damage from the fire, but not before he made Houndoom hit the wall from his attack.

"We're sick of you coming in and threatening us, chi!" Moochi spat.

"_And_ telling us our final destination is shackled in your closet!" Kari added.

"So call off Remon and Lilithium!" Yolei added.

"In your dreams! **Digi-modify! Co-op digivolution, activate!**"

"**Remon, co-op digivolve to…Black Rook!**"

"We can win the digivolving game, too," Yolei spat. "Brock, Forretress!"

"I'm one step ahead of you!" Brock hurled his pokéball at Yolei's digivice.

"**Aeroangemon, co-op digivolve to…White Rook!**" White rook looked almost exactly like her evil counterpart, except that she was white and it was black. The only other notable difference was that she had a parapet on her head while her counterpart had an onion dome on its head. "I've had it with your shenanigans!" White Rook spat. "Hyper Beam!"

"Hyper Beam!" Black Rook answered. The two rays completely cancelled each other. "Faint Attack!" Black Rook shouted.

"Protect!" White Rook shut her two walled wings, and as Black Rook disappeared and began smacking White Rook's walls, she took no damage at all. "I thought I said that I'd had it with you!" White Rook said. "Spikes!" Out her two cannons, White Rook fired a barrage of metal tines. Black Rook tried to protect itself, but its walled wings were being slowly eroded away.

"Brock, there's got to be something else _ we_ can do to help these guys out!" Misty said.

Yolei cut in, "The best thing you can do is get some distance away---and warn us if he's getting reinforcements, or anything!"

"Will do," Misty said. As the three of them raced away from the battle, they saw something blue and bright go flying over their heads.

"What was that, chi?" Moochi asked.

"That looked like…I don't know; it didn't look like a menace machine to me!"

"The question is, what _is_ it…?"

"Crobat, I choose you! Follow that thing and see what it is!" Crobat flew after the blue creature to get a better look at it. As he got closer, he saw that it had a long, kite-like tail and was a bird with a short bill. Crobat thought he knew what this was: Articuno, a pokémon.

Articuno began to catch on that it was being followed. It fired a blue ray of ice at Crobat.

Crobat was quick enough to dodge. In fact, Crobat was quick enough to get to the other side of Articuno and smack him with a Wing Attack.

Articuno was ticked, and he thought that he had to destroy Crobat to ensure his own safety. So he began firing ice beams all over.

Crobat began leading Articuno back towards Brock, and hoped that he'd be able to make it before Articuno landed a hit. Just as he was landing, Articuno did it: he hit him with the Ice Beam.

Articuno flew down to go in for the kill, and was more than a little surprised to see not a bat pokémon, but two human beings and Moochi---not to mention Vulpix.

"Vulpix, use Fire Spin!" Vulpix spat a tornado of fire out at the ice bird, and it was too much for it to take. It tried to break free of the flames, but it was no use. "Pokéball, go!" Brock hurled the empty pokéball at Articuno. Try as it might, it couldn't escape the ball, either. Game over: it was caught.

"So…now what, chi?" Moochi asked.

"Step one: freshen up Articuno," Brock answered, taking a device out of his backpack. It looked like Cleaver's handiwork; it had a single, round, cup-shaped port on the side that looked like it was the exact size and shape to fit a pokéball. Brock stuck Articuno's pokéball into the port, and then took it out, again. "Step Two: Articuno, go!" Articuno flew out of the pokéball, ready to fight. "Articuno, attack Black Rook! Use Ice Beam on its insides when it opens up for another attack!" Articuno waited and fired. This caused Black Rook more pain than it did damage, but it was enough for White Rook to gain the upper hand and land another attack on Black Rook's vulnerable belly.

The Unnamed Figure shot a grapple hook out from the Trojan at Jaymon and called back Murkrow. "Lilithium, hold them off while I escape!"

"My pleasure!" Lilithium sneered, hurling Oyarsa away. "Ice Beam!"

"Hyper Beam!" The two ray attacks cancelled again, sending a blast of yellow light and snow everywhere. Oyarsa flew up into the air and onto one of the buildings. Lilithium followed her with its ice beam ready to fire…only to find that she wasn't there.

"How in the world…?" Lilithium felt a jolt to its back as Oyarsa blasted it, coming out from hiding. "So…that's how the game is played, huh? All right then, Faint Attack!"

"Metronome!" Oyarsa answered. A sheath of fire appeared around Oyarsa. "Flame Wheel!" she shouted as she tackled Lilithium.

Lilithium felt that: it was very vulnerable to flame attacks. "Finally learning how to fight dirty, huh? Good to know we're doing _some_ evil, down at Linonian central---"

"Foresight!" Red beams flew out of Oyarsa's face and locked onto Lilithium.

"Uh-oh," Lilithium gulped.

"Hyper Beam!" Lilithium was pummeled with the two beams and fell off the roof onto the ground…but it still wouldn't regress back down to Blackgatomon and Sneasel. "Are you giving up, yet?" Oyarsa asked. There was no reply. _I wonder if that thing isn't "fighting dirty" right now…_ Oyarsa wondered to herself. She flew down into the alleyway where Lilithium had fallen, and found that Lilithium had flown into one of the buildings as it fell, and it was jumping down on her.

"Slash!"

"Hyper Beam!" Lilithium's cutting attack missed by a millimeter as it was hurled into the air. Oyarsa could see it regressing back down to Sneasel and Blackgatomon. "Finally," Oyarsa thought to herself. Oyarsa became Gatomon and Togetic once again.

"Togetic, go back into Misty's pokéball," Gatomon said. "I've got some other business to wrap up…" Gatomon climbed up to the roof of the building: she needed to have a little post-mêlée chat with her clone.

As she came to the roof, she looked around…her clone wasn't there. Or, at least, it wasn't in sight. Gatomon could smell that it was somewhere around, but probably in hiding. Gatomon also smelled rain, and lots of it. She knew that it was anyone's guess so as to whether it would rain or not, but she wasn't taking any chances. She pulled her digimon-sized poncho out of her backpack, tied her ears back, and slipped it on…and just in the nick of time, too: a downpour suddenly started just as she was tightening the hood. It was surprising how fast the flat roof filled up with puddles from the rain. …_Hmm_… Gatomon wondered if those puddles wouldn't come in handy. "Lightning Claw!" Gatomon hurled her attack at the water, and electricity flew out and shocked everything.

There was a loud grunt that came out of one of the air intakes of the building. Blackgatomon jumped out of the intake, still shaking off the blow. "It seems like we really _are_ teaching you to fight dirty!" These were ironic words: Blackgatomon was soaking wet and its fur was just as dirty as before. On the other hand, Gatomon was careful to keep herself dry and clean, despite the fights she had been in.

Gatomon summoned up all the will that was in her to plead for her clone's life again. "Listen…listen to me: I learned that you don't have to fight for evil; God is merciful: He'll take you back even now!"

"Like I care! Darkening Claw!" Gatomon leapt out of the way.

"You should care! If I can defect from evil, so can you!"

"That's nice…Unfortunate Path!" Blackgatomon stomped the ground and send a green flash of energy skidding along the roof towards Gatomon.

"Step of Cat!" Gatomon answered, jumping over the energy bolt and onto Blackgatomon. Blackgatomon took the brunt of that kick.

It suddenly became apparent that Blackgatomon was nowhere near as strong as it looked. It collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Gatomon dragged her counterpart to the stairwell to the roof so that there would be shelter for it. She began grooming its fur and treating its wounds with a bit of antibacterial gel that she had in her backpack.

Blackgatomon slowly came to. "What…do you think you're doing?"

"I'm taking you back!"

"Back to where…your side…? Darkening---"

Mostly out of self-defense, Gatomon smacked her clone with her claw. But this was the finishing blow: Blackgatomon began falling down the stairs lifelessly: it was dead.

Gatomon's jaw dropped. She tried to race down the stairs, but she tripped on her own poncho and had to take it off before she could make it down. After what seemed like an eternity, she made it down the stairs to where her clone had come to rest. She held its corpse to her chest, as if mourning for a lost friend… This creature had never been her friend, and yet Gatomon couldn't help but feel that her sister had just died…at her hands.

Kari found Gatomon lying there, mourning. "Gatomon?" Kari asked.

"I…I killed her…!"

"It, Gatomon…you killed 'it'."

"It was…it absolutely refused to think about switching sides…even for a minute! Why couldn't Blackgatomon have become good…I did!" Gatomon jumped up into Kari's arms.

Kari held Gatomon. She thought she knew what was hurting Gatomon. After a pause, she said, "Gatomon…some of us are meant to switch over…we all start out like Blackgatomon. Some of us choose to come back to God…others never do. That's just the way things are. It's not how they're meant to be, I know, but some things aren't fixable…"

Gatomon sobbed. Kari stroked Gatomon's head. There was a long silence as Kari stood there, holding Gatomon. Gatomon finally decided that she had to move on with her life: menace machines were still out there and refugees were out there, too. She couldn't mourn forever for this creature.

Gatomon jumped down from Kari's arms and kicked Blackgatomon. "You…_you_…"

"Gatomon, don't be hard on it…it can't even hear you!"

Gatomon snorted.

"Gatomon, please, don't be like that, either!" Kari picked her up, again. "I know you're hurt that she didn't choose God, but…but…"

"But _what_?"

Kari sighed. "Like I said, we all start out just as evil as she is. Some people God chooses to be saved, others not. It's not that she's worse off than you, it's that you're better off…"

Gatomon was still hurt: knowing a fact doesn't always instantly change a person's emotions for the better. "This…it's…"

"I know, Gatomon…but your destiny and hers are different. That's just the way it is… And I don't want you going hard, but you can't let this get to you..." There was a long pause. Kari didn't have the nerve to break it, but she decided to act on an idea she just got... She pulled a trash bag out of her backpack and put Blackgatomon's corpse in it.

"What're you doing??" Gatomon asked, putting her poncho back on.

"I'd like it if we could leave this behind, but Cleaver's going to want to have a look at the body. He needs all the info he can get. Even if he doesn't have an immediate use for it, it can't hurt to have another clone's body on file."

******

Holding his nose, Cleaver thought to himself, _Maybe it **can** hurt to have another clone's body on file_…

(1) Oyarsa was actually a creature designed by C.S. Lewis. To make a long story short, he wrote a science fiction trilogy called the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy. In it, he essentially gave a scientific explanation for the existence and nature of spirits. He called the spirits "eldila", which is plural for "eldil", and there was a single eldil that ruled over all the subordinate eldil of a planet who was called "Oyarsa". It was interesting; the eldila had bodies that were somehow moving faster than light speed and yet staying in one place…it had something to do with his book's theory of matter. Anyhow, the eldila were, for the most part, invisible to the naked eye, and there was one time in his second book that two Oyarsa decided that they ought to become visible. Their visible forms looked something like what I had Oyarsa look like in the GIF, and, as I mentioned, C.S. Lewis said that, when one looked directly at the Oyarsa's visible form, it looked as though the form was moving at the viewer at tremendous speed, while, when one looked at it relative to its surroundings, it was immobile. Really, Oyarsa and the eldila were genderless, but I made Oyarsa female in this fiction.


	57. Chapter 56: Defects

Chapter 56: Defects

"That went as we expected. Normally, I would not commend such a sacrifice, but, in this case, it allows us to occupy Blackgatomon's vacant screen with another clone."

"I've been wondering about that…what exactly is he going to look like?"

"This," the sub-major said, motioning towards the shadows. Two, purple eyes glowed in the darkness, and out stepped another Ewemon. This Ewemon was a little bit different: its sweater was striped instead of plain gray. "This is the Ewemon 2."

"He's a bender?"

"That he is."

"So…when do I get to test him out?"

"Soon…we expect that there will be a problem that will require the clone's assistance, but, until then, we have the heroes of this world to deal with…not quite yet, but soon, you are to deploy Kamnadramon and Armagemon: I have a special assignment for them…"

******

Tina would much rather be back at the college with the orphans, but this would have to do: she was out on another clean-up patrol with June, Golem, Gary, and Ash. It wasn't the best group choice: Gary seemed to have a storm cloud hovering over his head. (I mean this figuratively, not literally. I felt I had to explain, considering the climate of the Earth in MON: 2028. But, continuing…) He still wasn't over the speech that Yolei had given him about not following orders…and he looked like he wanted revenge.

June looked no better: she couldn't stop staring at Gary with a flush face. She was obviously enamored by Gary's looks, which weren't the worst in the greater Tokyo area---even Tina had to admit that much. Gary's personality, however, was the worst in the greater Tokyo area…assuming one doesn't count The Unnamed Figure pr thje menace machines.

Given how much less fun this group was than the children waiting for her back at base, Tina hoped that she'd be able to get some unfaiy-rings destroyed for her trouble, but, it took them a long time before they found:

"Ota V'ver!" A purple beam sliced over their heads.

"Obelaser!" Tibemon shouted.

June held up her digi-egg of persistence: "**Digi-armor, energize!**"

"**Tibemon, armor-digivolve to…Kangamon, the ice of persistence!**"

"Arcanine, I choose you! Use Fire Blast on that obelaser!"

"Fire, huh?" June leaned on Gary's shoulder. "You know, that's fire and ice out there, fighting for us…"

"Your point?" Gary asked.

"We make a great team…"

…_Sweet!_ Gary thought.

Kangamon jumped up at the top of the spire. "Arctic Roundhouse!" she shouted, throwing a punch at the obelaser.

It wasn't very happy with her for that. It charged up its weapon for another attack…

"Arcanine, quick! While it's still cold from her attack, use Fire Blast and blow that thing up!" Arcanine blasted the obelaser's point, and it shattered.

June let out a sigh of contentment as the obelaser fell to the ground. "I love it when a plan comes together," she added, her mood just as hormonally influenced as before.

"Yeah…it _did_ come together, didn't it? That was…_fine_."

"I wouldn't say that's fine," Golem shouted. As usual, the menace machines had backup.

"Not another catamarine!" Ash muttered. "I thought we were _done_ with these things!"

"Oh, well," Gary said. "Arcanine, return. And, since they're vulnerable to ice, Jynx, I choose you!" 

"Lapras, go!" Ash shouted.

"There's one other thing, Gary," June said.

"W-what's that?"

"It's Kangamon…I've never seen her radio-digivolved form…"

Gary swallowed. _It's a waste of energy…Jynx could take this thing by herself, but I've got to treat the ladies right…_ "Okay, then…Kangamon, here's my moon stone."

"**Kangamon, radio-digivolve to…Cryodramon, the driving ice of persistence!**" Cryodramon had four wings sticking out her serpentine body, and didn't have any legs. This would make landing uncomfortable, but it didn't look like Cryodramon would have to land any time soon.

"Now, that catamarine doesn't stand a chance!" June cheered.

"Of course it doesn't! Jynx! Use Blizzard on that thing!"

"Lapras, Ice Beam!"

Cryodramon shouted, "Ice Breaker!" The three ice attacks went flying at the catamarine's head.

"Tuli Dra Jalnor!" it answered, firing lava at the ice. It didn't totally cancel the attacks, so it took damage.

"Jynx, use Blizzard, one more time!"

"Lapras, Ice Beam again!"

"Ice Breaker!" This time, the catamarine was too woozy to react. Its head fell off, and there was a new pile of scrap metal in the area.

June shut her eyes and put more of her weight on Gary's shoulder. "Like I said…we make a great team."

"Jynx, return!" Gary walked away, leaving June with very little to keep her balance with. As they walked away, Gary nudged Tina and asked, "Is she always like this?"

"Usually, yeah."

Gary grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Then I'm going to like this…!"

Youngdramon sighed as Cryodramon landed and regressed back to Tibemon. "You get to have all the fun…you know that?"

"Yeah…"

"I still don't know what my radio form is…oh, well…I guess it's kind of a good thing, considering that---if we don't need to find out, then we aren't being attacked…right?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"Not more giantors," Ash muttered. "What's the plan?"

"I've got a pretty good one," Gary said, clutching his pokéball.

"Let's _not_ go there again!" Tina spat. "How about we let Moleg handle this?" She pulled Cody's digi-egg of knowledge out of her backpack.

"**Golem, module-evolve to…Moleg!**"

"Advanced monster, advanced schmonster…I've seen this breed in action: they're not so hot."

"That's very true…_if you're up against giantors and you refuse to help them out!!_ Ash, if you would be so kind…"

"Here's the sun stone!" He threw it at Moleg, and it barely tapped his armor…

"Tremor Blaster!" Moleg stomped the ground, and a purple fault line flew out at the giantors. The giantors staggered. "Again! Tremor Blaster!" This time, the giantors bought it.

"That was a waste of Moleg's energy," Gary said.

"I got more out of that than I put in," Moleg answered, matter-of-factly.

"Uh-huh. Listen, my pokémon can take anything those things can dish. I don't need any of you."

There was an awkward pause for a second as Ash, Tina, and the digimon looked on wide-eyed. But nobody was more wide-eyed than June. "Gary, are you _nuts_?!" Ash asked.

"You know the answer to that question," Youngdramon whispered.

"Ash, you've got to get your mind straight: these guys aren't worth your bother."

"What do you mean, Gary?"

"Yeah, what do you mean by that?" June asked, more than a little hurt by what Gary had just said.

"Except you, of course," Gary answered, running his fingers through her hair. That did more than placate June; she almost fainted again. "As I was saying, Ash, even _your_ pokémon are better than this group's fighters. You should break off and join with me."

"Join with you in doing _what_?"

"Defecting! Forming my own bunch!"

"Gary, that's crazy. Even though the In-tor-net is history, you'll never make it alone!"

"Aw, yes I can! C'mon, June!"

"Sweet! Where are we going?"

"Someplace better than that old college!"

Tina's jaw dropped as she saw June, getting dragged away by her hormones. It was her first impulse to say, "June, get back here! You're crazy, and so is Gary!" But then she realized that saying that wouldn't get her anywhere. So instead, she said, "I bet Matt would date you if you came back to the college."

June stopped in her tracks. "D…d…did you say that…that Matt was actually interested in me?"

"Uh…"

"Ooooo!!! I can tell from your hesitation that it's _true_! It's just too great to say it out loud, isn't it?!"

"…Yeah, exactly."

June just about fainted for joy.

"What about _me_???" Gary asked.

"What _about_ you?" June spat angrily. "You're just a conceited, self-centered blowhard. Matt, on the other hand, is humble, generous, _selfless_…"

"I'll have you know---"

June wasn't even listening to Gary. "Oh, I can picture it, now! The moonlight on the beach, with Matt in the best tuxedo we could loot and me in my best prom dress! And Champaign over candlelight and caviar…"

Ash nudged Tina as they walked back to base. "Is she always this…um…"

"High on hormones?"

"Yeah."

"Only when she's not complaining about stuff."

"I see…I have a friend who's just like her, except for the complaining part. His name is Brock, and…well, the second he sees a pretty lady…he goes into hormone mode."

"You know, I saw the two of them flirting back when they were swapping shifts at the orphanage," Tina thought out loud. "You don't suppose that there's any way we could get those two together and kill two birds with one stone…"

Tibemon gulped. "Somehow, you contemplating the fate of my human partner isn't altogether encouraging."

"Thanks, Tibemon. I appreciate your good faith in me."

"What I'm worried about is how you're going to talk Matt into having a date with her."

Tina nodded. "This is going to be a shock either to him, or to her…or both." 


	58. Chapter 57: Nasty Surprises

Chapter 57: Nasty Surprises

"So, in other words, you tried to talk June out of defecting with Gary by telling her I'd date with her if she didn't?" Matt asked.

"That's _one_ interpretation of what Tina said," Youngdramon answered.

"Now isn't the time, Youngdramon," Tina cut in. "Basically yes, Matt…if she had gone with Gary, she'd probably be dead, right now."

"And why didn't you try to talk Gary out of this?"

"Because he's just plain psycho."

"I see…so, I'm guessing that you expect me to play along with your lie?"

"Unless you can come up with some better idea, yeah."

******

"You want me to do _what_?" Yolei asked.

"I want you to sign me up for some mission this evening because that way, I won't have to date June. It will give me an excuse."

Yolei shook her head. "We need Metalgarurumon for other things, Matt…we can't go wasting Gabumon's energy on finding obelasers."

Matt sighed… "I hope Tina's got some bright idea…"

******

Matt found Tina the same place where she always liked to be: with the orphans. She was doing one of her "pile-on" hugs…Tina had wanted some way to hug all the orphans at once, and this was the idea she came up with: she would lie on the ground with her arms outstretched, and then the children would pile on top of her. This meant that Matt had to kill more time waiting for her to come unpacked before he could talk to her, and this put him about seven minutes closer to sitting at a table with June.

"Tina, this is bogus…I can't excuse my way out of a date with June, and, if she wants to go with Gary, she belongs in a mental hospital, not at a restaurant with me!"

"I know, I know…but how else could I get her away from Gary?"

"If I were you, I would've tried having Ash tie her up with Bulbasaur's vine whip. In fact, I think I should have him do that right now: I'm not interesting in having a date with her."

Tina sighed… "So…what can we do to keep her from going back to Gary?"

"Beats me…she'd never find Gary if he's wandering about in the city."

"Hmm…and she only went with Gary in the first place because she was in love with him…maybe she'll get over this and forget, or something…Youngdramon?"

"At your service!" Youngdramon said, bounding up to them.

"I'd like you to do some scouting for us…go up to June's room and see if she's still crazy over Matt."

"Will do!" Youngdramon answered, waddling off to June's room. Youngdramon found June rummaging around in her closet. "What's the problem?"

"I can't find anything to wear!"

"What about your normal digidestined outfit? I mean, that's the kind of thing that a French model would wear on stage."

"You think so?"

Youngdramon mulled over the question a second time, during which there was an awkward silence.

June broke the silence. "But…even if it is, Matt's seen me in it a million times! I need to show him something new…"

Youngdramon took a hanger up in her mouth. "What about this?" she asked through her teeth.

"That? …That's a school uniform, Youngdramon!"

"It's the best thing you're going to find in _that_ closet! Unless they've started assigning dress uniforms to students…"

June sighed. "This is going to ruin our date, but it's the best thing we have…"

******

"Nice going, Youngdramon," Matt said. "Now _I_ have to wear a school uniform, too!"

"At least you've pilfered those badges of honor from the dorm," Davis answered

"This is a date with _June_ we're talking about, Davis! I don't care if I look good when I'm about to go into the jaws of death!"

Davis nodded. "I'm sure glad that I never have to go on a date with her."

"I envy you, Davis…" Matt pulled the long raincoat that he had looted from the grocery store, back in America.

"What're you taking that for? You aren't dating her _outside_, are you?"

"Tina told me about this one place on the beach where it can start raining without warning…I'm hoping it'll cut my date short. And guess who's doing the cooking?"

"…You?"

"Eventually. I'm planning on having Tina burn the steaks on the grill."

"So...you're stacking the deck against June?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

******

"I can't believe your mom let us do this," Matt said.

"She knows that June would go insane if we didn't…so she's going to try it out," Tina whispered.

"What's the plan if it _does _rain?"

"Not if: when. But the plan is to walk back home, basically…I don't want to rub it in June's face _that_ much; the entire idea is to keep her from going crazy."

"Too late, if you ask me," Matt said.

They arrived at the beach restaurant, and June was already there. If she had been wearing any more makeup, it would've killed her. June was almost too high on hormones to speak. "N…nice medals!" was all she could say.

"Um…thanks…"

They sat down at a table. Several full moons shone brightly out of the sky, so brightly that it was nearly like daytime. Chilly ocean breezes came in from the sea, forcing June to wear a blanket over her lap, as though she were a patient in a hospital. Apparently, the designers of her uniform weren't into chaste dressing, as the skirt on her uniform was oddly short.

June stared at Matt the entire time as they were sitting down. Her crazy expression made the silence between them all the more awkward. "So…" Matt said, "How have you been, lately?"

"N…nice medals!"

"Really?" Matt asked.

June thought to herself with what little rational mentality she had left, "I've got to compose!" June coughed. "I…I've been okay…"

"I heard that Gary went crazy and defected."

"I expect that much from him. Crazy."

"So…how soon do you think he'll come running back?"

"I don't care if he _never_ comes back!"

"Then how will Kangamon radio-digivolve?"

"There'll be other guys with moon stones…I think you'd look good with one…"

Matt swallowed. "Okay…um, so…what would you like to drink?"

June was silent for a long time. "T-to us!" she answered, raising her empty glass.

_With a glass that full, I'll drink to that!_ Matt thought to himself. "T…to us," Matt answered. They clinked their glasses together, and June looked into the glass. She felt unbelievably embarrassed that she had done that. "Listen, June…are you okay?"

"I…just…need some time in the lady's powder room," she answered.

"The lady's powder room has been ground into powder," Matt answered, gesturing towards the restaurant. The near side of the restaurant looked beautiful, but the far size had been pulverized by crackones.

June swallowed hard. The powder room was the her best chance for escape, and she knew---albeit barely---that she had _not_ been doing well, and needed a time-out. She wasn't getting one, though.

Tina showed up, wearing a tuxedo and with a towel over her arm. "Good evening," she said with a faked French accent. "How may I be of service?"

"Um…could…we have the wine list?" Matt asked, expecting that he wouldn't be able to continue like this if he was sober.

"I'll have to see some ID. We've had enough under-age drinkers as it is."

Matt said through his teeth, "There _is_ no law anymore, Tina! City hall and the Diet are history!"

"My mom would throw a fit, though!" Tina answered. "May I interest you in something…slightly more soft?"

"Just water for me," Matt answered, thinking to himself.

"I'll have what he's having!" June answered.

"Very well, two waters." Tina brought out a pitcher full of water, and a single drop from that pitcher splashed out of the glass and landed on June's cheek. This was not good; it created a noticeable streak in her makeup that made Matt wonder what she'd look like after the rain started.

There was an awkward silence as Tina and Matt look at the streak, and as June realized that it was there. Tina cleared her throat and broke the silence. "…Will that be all?" Tina asked.

"I doubt it," Matt said, looking at June's condition. She actually looked pretty stressed: this was her big chance, and she had blown it.

"While I am here…would you like to order?"

"I ---*_cough_*---I think we need a few more minutes," June answered.

"Very well…a few more minutes," Tina said. _A few more minutes of this should kill them or cure them,_ Tina thought to herself. As she walked back to the other side of the grill, she asked Youngdramon, "So…how are the steaks coming?"

"They just came out of the kerosene marinade," Youngdramon answered. Right on cue, the steaks burst into flames. There was nothing left but grease, by that time.

Back at the table, June shuddered. "That was a…a kind of a cold breeze," June said.

Matt shrugged. "That's a lot of water out there," he said, gesturing towards the ocean. "What can you expect?"

"Yeah…I hate water."

Noticing a few wet spots appearing on the tablecloth, Matt said, "Then you'll _really_ hate what's coming next…"

June swallowed hard. She opened her purple umbrella and said, "Right when this was getting good!"

Looking at the streak of makeup on her cheek, The Unnamed Figure said, "If that's what you call good, I'd hate to see what you call bad!"

June and Matt both rolled their eyes in unison. "Not this guy, again!" they both muttered in unison.

"And without your digimon, I see!"

"Wanna bet?" Gabumon asked, jumping out from behind the shrubbery.

"Let's do this," Tibemon said, jumping after Gabumon.

"**Gabumon, warp-digivolve to…Metalgarurumon!**"

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"**Savamon, digivolve to…Amazonmon!**"

"Impressive, I'll admit, but not as impressive as this: **Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon II, warp-digivolve to…**" 


	59. Chapter 58: IntroducingBorggarurumon

Chapter 58: Introducing: Borggarurumon!

"**Ewemon II, warp-digivolve to…Borggarurumon!**" Borggarurumon barely looked anything at all like Metalgarurumon. It had a pair of starship-engines jutting out its back, and its fur looked like it was made out of steel wool. It had a rack-like piece of metal attached to its head with a cannon mounted on it.

"Um…this wouldn't exactly qualify as 'good', would it?" June asked.

"Get to cover!" Matt shouted. "Metalgarurumon and I will handle this!"

"Not so fast, Matt!" Tina shouted. "We brought some insurance!"

"What's that?"

"His name is Ash Ketchem!"

"Pkikachu, do your thing!" Ash shouted, letting Pikachu jump off his arm.

"**Amazonmon, co-op digivolve to…Thunderbard!**"

"We'll go get help," Tina said, switching hats. "**Digi-armor, energize!**"

"**Youngdramon, co-op digivolve to…Gryllotamon, the tunnel of adventure!**"

"You'll need an extra boost of speed," Ash insisted, touching Gryllotamon with his sun stone.

"**Gryllotamon, radio-digivolve to…Termon, the branching tunnel of adventure!**" Termon looked a lot like Gryllotamon, except that she had more mandibles and was bigger. "**Gryllotamon, mode-change to…streamline mode!**" Similar to Gryllotamon, Termon had a dragster-like mode change at her disposal.

"Slick set of wheels!" Tina said, nodding in approval.

"Now isn't the time to admire the craftsmanship; we need to get moving!" Termon shouted.

Tina jumped into the driver's seat. "All right…let's haul back to base and get the others!"

"Hang on to your innards; this is even faster than velocity mode!" Termon's exhaust pipes burst into rocket-like flames, and they flew forward with unbelievable speed.

Metalgarurumon and Borggarurumon leapt into the air and began to test each other out to see who had which weaknesses and strengths. "Ice Wolf Claw!" Metalgarurumon yelled, spitting a blast of ice at Borggarurumon. Borggarurumon dodged.

"Parasite Beam!" The laser cannon on Borggarurumon's head fired a red blast out at Metalgarurumon. It didn't land a hit, either. Borggarurumon charged at Metalgarurumon with all speed, and, just to see how their speeds compared, Metalgarurumon took off in the opposite direction. Metalgarurumon looked over his shoulder. Borggarurumon either wasn't going as fast as he could, or had the same speed abilities as Metalgarurumon. "Rabid Wolf Claw!" Borggarurumon shouted, firing a single, huge missile out his mouth at Metalgarurumon.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" Metalgarurumon returned the attack with an entire volley of missiles. All it took was one of Metalgarurumon's missiles to detonate Borggarurumon's missile. Metalgarurumon was shocked at how big a blast radius the missile had, and kept in mind to avoid that attack.

"So…I bet you think you're safe with Borggarurumon busy, don't you?" The Unnamed Figure Sneered.

"We'll be safe once you're in prison," Thunderbard spat. "And I'm tempted not to bother with the prison!"

"Big talk, but little brains…**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!**"

"This is going to be quick," Thunderbard said.

"Thunder attack!" Ash shouted, and Thunderbard strummed her guitar. Lightning flew down at Nekhbetmon…

"**Digi-modify!**** Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Nekhbetmon, digivolve to…Remon!**" Remon reflected the bolts away with its spear.

"Impressive, but you're still not in the clear! Thunderbard, Earthquake!" Thunderbard strummed her guitar again, and the earth shook beneath their feet.

"_I'm _not impressed by _your_ super pokémon," The Unnamed Figure shot back as Remon flew above the shaking earth. "**Digi-modify!**** Co-op digivolution, activate!**"

"**Remon, co-op digivolve to…Black Rook!**"

"Oh, right! Send a flying super pokémon after an electric!" Thunderbard muttered.

"Thunderbard, use thunder again!"

"Black Rook, faint attack!"

Thunderbard blindly shot her electric bolts into the air, hoping to do some damage before the vanished Black Rook landed a hit. It worked: Black Rook reappeared as a bolt smacked it to the ground.

"Quick! Use Earthquake!" The earth shook and jostled stones loose from Black Rook's wall. "Now, finish it off! Swift attack!" Black Rook leapt into the air just as the yellow stars were about to land a hit.

"Black Rook, use Spike Cannon!"

"Thunderbard, dodge!" Thunderbard still had enough agility to leap over and duck under the rails of metal that were flying at her. "Now, use Thunder!"

Black Rook crashed to the ground, and its flag caught fire and began to burn, despite the wetness of the rain.

"Now you're toast!" Thunderbard spat, pointing at The Unnamed Figure.

"Bulbasaur, hold him down with Vine Whip!" Ash shouted.

"In your dreams! Houndoom, don't let him go there!" As Houndoom was about to blow flame into Bulbasaur, Thunderbard paralyzed Houndoom.

"You can't win this one! You've lost already!" Thunderbard insisted.

"Actually, the destruction of Black Rook fits _right_ into my plans!"

June tapped Matt on the shoulder. "He replaced Blackgatomon with Borggarurumon; just think of what he'll replace Jaymon with!"

"That's not going to happen," Ash said with defiance. "Bulbasaur, hold him down!"

"**Digi-modify!**** Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Keramon, warp-digivolve to…Armagemon!**"

Thunderbard swallowed hard. "I think _this _would qualify as 'not good'," she said as she looked at Armagemon's sheer size.

"You're both on par with mega-level power!" Ash insisted. "Hit him with all you've got! Swift attack!" Thunderbard obeyed, peppering Armagemon with a spray of yellow bullets.

"Terminator Blaze!" Armagemon answered, firing a blast of red-hot flames at Thunderbard. A dog-tired Tibemon and Pikachu came out of the attack.

"Now, _you're_ toast!" The Unnamed Figure grinned. "And you'll make a fine addition to my collection," he added, looking at June.

June clutched Matt's arm, and Matt held onto her: even though he wasn't interested in a relationship with June, he wasn't about to let her fall into the hands of The Unnamed Figure. The Unnamed Figure only laughed all the harder, looking at June's fear, and in the full knowledge that Matt wouldn't be able to do anything about it…

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For those of you who don't know, Paramount Pictures' series _Star Trek: the Next Generation_ had an alien species on it called "The Borg". The Borg were these cyber-organic creatures whose minds were linked electronically, so they had a collective mind. A lot of the time, individual Borg had pieces of metal machinery sticking out of their bodies, similar to Borggarurumon's cage-like cannon mount. That's where I got the idea.

There's another thing about The Borg: they were vampires, in that they could stick needles from their arms into a victim's body and, with time, the victim would become a Borg… 


	60. Chapter 59: The Ante Is Upped

Chapter 59: The Ante Is Upped

"I _don't think so_!" Blackwargreymon shouted. He stepped between The Unnamed Figure and Matt. "I've seen you do enough damage, and I think it's high time your career ended! Terra Destroy---"

"Terminator Blaze!" Before Blackwargreymon could finish the attack, he had to set up a force field do protect himself from Armagemon's attack.

"You know," The Unnamed Figure said, "You'll be a great addition to our ranks." He pressed a few buttons on his D-Gauntlet, and a purple spiral appeared along the slot that his cards normally went through. The spiral shot off at Blackwargreymon. Blackwargreymon hesitated for a moment as the spiral took hold of him. He seemed to regain his senses, and he tore the spiral off.

"If you think that Ken's old technology will work on me when it was built to work on ultimates, you are dead wrong!"

"Besides, even _with_ Armagemon, let's see you handle this!" Hare shouted, stepping out of Imperialdramon's force field. "**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**"

"**Moochi, module-evolve to…Turtledove!**"

"**Tiger, module-evolve to…Thunderdog!**"

"**Pixie, module-evolve to…Mole Sprite!**"

Getting out their evolution stones, Misty and Brock said, "Let's finish that bug!"

"Mega Flame Cannons!"

"Tsunami Blaster!"

"Static Warhead!"

"Laser Javelin!"

The four shots smacked Armagemon and did some visible damage. Armagemon roared at them.

"Well, then…" The Unnamed Figure sneered. "It's time to do some more damage!" He began firing purple control spirals at Blackwargreymon like there was no tomorrow. Try as Blackwargreymon might, he couldn't get them all off in time: he was under the control of The Unnamed Figure.

"Oh-oh!" Matt gulped.

"That's not our biggest problem, Matt!" Tai said, jumping out of Termon. "We need to finish Armagemon once and for all! Come on!"

"**Agumon, warp-digivolve to…Wargreymon!**"

"Metalgarurumon is still too far away for us to pull this off, Tai! He's fighting an evil clone of himself called Borggarurumon!"

"Then Wargreymon is just going to have to keep Blackwargreymon busy…"

"While _I_ handle Armagemon!" Imperialdramon shouted. "**Imperialdramon, mode-change to...Fighter Mode!**" aiming his cannon straight at Armagemon's head. "Ultra cannon!"

The golden beam didn't do much damage, but it certainly got Armagemon's attention.

"You think you have it all figured out, _ don't_ you?" The Unnamed Figure asked.

"As a matter of fact, we _do_ have it figured out!" Tai spat.

Termon returned to her normal mode. "Are you going to give up in peace, or in pieces?" she asked, charging her Laser Mandibles.

"You'll find out in a minute." Borggarurumon came flying down into the middle of the congregated monsters, and it looked the worse for wear. Ice crystals hung on its pelt, and its cannon had been completely torn off. It regressed back to Ewemon II.

"You people don't know how to make a digi-clone!" Metalgarurumon said as he landed.

"And you're still smiling?" Mole Sprite asked The Unnamed Figure.

"That fits right in to my plans, too…you see, I can't digivolve everyone all at the same time, but now…**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

"This again!" Hare muttered.

"He's going to try to make Kamnadramon!" Ken shouted. "Somebody blast those champions before they DNA digivolve!"

"I'm one step ahead of you! Blackwargreymon, stop fighting Wargreymon, and make a force field around me and my digi-clones! ** Digi-modify! DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Pestilimon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Eindramon!**"

"This doesn't look good," Matt thought aloud.

"Let's do our thing! Good thing we brought a little insurance! Ghenki! We need your subspace energy!"

"Coming right up!" Ghenki answered, touching their digivices.

"**Wargreymon!**"

"**Metalgarurumon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Omegamon!**"

"You think that'll save you? You're dead wrong: ** Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Eindramon, mega-digivolve to…Kamnadramon!**"

"Great…should Tina and I go get more fighters?" Termon asked.

"Not just yet, Termon!" Davis answered. "I think it's time we show this guy what Imperialdramon and Omegamon are _ really_ capable of!"

"I'm with you!" Tai agreed.

"Let's show this guy he can't win!" Matt shouted.

"Here goes nothing," Ken added, raising his digivice…

"**Imperialdramon, mode-change to…Paladin mode!**"

The Unnamed Figure swallowed hard. "All right…okay…not good…"

"Not evil, you mean!" Imperialdramon shot back, aiming his sword at Armagemon.

"…But you're not the only ones with this kind of trick up your sleeve…**Digi-modify! Mode change, activate!**"

"**Kamnadramon, mode-change to…Necrid mode!**" Kamnadramon and Armagemon fused and became a huge, black, bug-like digi-clone. It had two wicked-looking cannons on its back, and it had Armagemon's legs coming out of Kamnadramon's claws.

Imperialdramon swallowed hard. "This might _actually_ be a problem, guys…" 


	61. Chapter 60: Bye Bye, Blackwargreymon

Chapter 60: Bye-Bye Blackwargreymon!

"These guy's transformations just get weirder and weirder," Firabbit thought out loud.

"Pika," Pikachu agreed, still nursing the wounds Armagemon had given him.

"…What was that?"

"He said, 'Tell me about it!'" Ash answered.

"Well…what do we do?"

"You get wasted by Blackwargreymon!" The Unnamed Figure taunted. Blackwargreymon stood motionless for a pause. "Blackwargreymon, that was your cue!" Still no response. "…Attack them, already!"

Blackwargreymon charged up his Terra Destroyer attack.

"Okay, not good," Turtledove thought aloud. It wasn't difficult to dodge the fireball, but the advanced Monsters knew how strong an attack it was.

"Let's do our thing again!" Ash shouted. "Thunderdog, here's the thunder stone!" Ash threw the stone at Thunderdog. It sailed over Blackwargreymon's head, well within catching distance…and Blackwargreymon didn't try to catch it.

"You idiot!" The Unnamed Figure spat. "When the stone gets close enough to you, catch it!"

"Static Warhead!" Thunderdog shouted, firing a lightning missile at Blackwargreymon. Blackwargreymon barely reacted as the missile struck him and dealt hard damage.

"Are you going to _stay_ this stupid?" The Unnamed Figure asked Blackwargreymon. "Defend yourself from their attacks, catch their evolution stones, and attack them!"

Blackwargreymon paused, and the purple control spirals on his arms glowed.

"Quick! While he's hesitating, let's destroy the spirals and get him out of this!" Firabbit shouted. "Bludgeon Blade!" Firabbit charged at Blackwargreymon, but Blackwargreymon was one step ahead of him.

"Terra Destroyer!" Hare fell to the ground, and the digi-egg of courage landed in Davis's hands.

"That didn't go so well," Turtledove thought aloud. "Misty, hit me with your water stone again! Tsunami Blaster!"

Blackwargreymon took his wing panels and blocked himself from the spray of water.

"Static Warhead!" Blackwargreymon turned his shield to block the lightning.

"Ash, your sun stone!" Mole Sprite shouted. "Laser Javelin!" Blackwargreymon blocked the shot.

Imperialdramon's fight with Kamnadramon wasn't going much better. Kamnadramon was not very shy about showing off its attacks: "Black Crusher!" it shouted, as a pair of missiles flew out at Imperialdramon.

"Hyper Prominence!" Imperialdramon let a flare of yellow energy blow out his sword, and that energy was enough to detonate the missiles.

"Terminator Laser!" Kamnadramon fired a pair of orange beams out at Imperialdramon. Imperialdramon smacked one beam back at Kamnadramon, and the other flew off into the air. It did something strange, though: it flew into the clouds, and a temporal eddy began to form as lightning and the subspace energy of the attack combined and reacted with each other.

"I'm getting sick of you!" Imperialdramon grunted, charging Kamnadramon. "Omega Blade!"

"Black Crusher!" Kamnadramon's missile knocked Imperialdramon's sword away. "Now, what will a disarmed Imperialdramon do?" Kamnadramon taunted.

"A lot more than you think!" He opened Metalgarurumon's mouth, and out from it stuck Imperialdramon's old cannon. "Ultra Cannon!"

Kamnadramon wasn't happy to feel that. "Terminator Laser!"

"Omega Sword!" Wargreymon's head opened to reveal Omegamon's sword, and Imperialdramon used it to reflect Kamnadramon's attack back in its face. That distracted Kamnadramon long enough for Imperialdramon to slash at its legs and immobilize it. Imperialdramon retracted Omegamon's sword and picked up his own blade out of the water. "This is getting old, Kamnadramon! Go back down to your rookie forms and we'll go easy on you!"

"Fat chance!"

"We've wasted you beyond repair! You can't win against us!"

"Don't…bet…on it! Mega Crusher!" A huge blast of energy flew out of Kamnadramon's mouth. Imperialdramon went unconscious and flew backwards into the temporal eddy…and disappeared.

The Unnamed Figure laughed. "Ha! I thought that this would be a difficult fight! But now, as it turns out, I'm going to get rewarded more than I ever thought I would…and, even if I don't get some huge benefit, I'll have you," he said, pointing to June.

"You still have to go through us!" Thunderdog shouted. "Static Warhead!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Tsunami Blaster!"

"Terminator Laser!" Kamnadramon answered, canceling all three ultra attacks in one shot.

The Unnamed Figure chuckled. "Getting through you should be about as easy as getting through a wall made out of construction paper! Finish them off, Kamnadramon!"

"Not so fast!" a voice shouted. It came from the direction of the eddy. It was Paildramon who had said it. "Davis, Ken! What are you waiting for! Digivolve me again!"

"Oh…"

"Right!"

"**Paildramon, mega-digivolve to…Imperialdramon!**"

"**Imperialdramon, mode-change to…Fighter mode!**"

"But where's Omegamon?" Matt asked.

"Backing me up!" Imperialdramon answered. Omegamon was in a mode that they had never seen before: Frigate mode. He looked like a huge starship in the air.

"Omega Cannon!"

"Ultra Cannon!" The two attacks struck Kamnadramon.

"What're you two waiting for? Combine into Paladin Mode!" Davis shouted.

"We…can't!"

"New plan!" Hare shouted, dusting himself off. "Guys, flank him on all sides, and then attack! Even if he can take one of you down, you'll still have him finished!"

Mole Sprite picked Ash up and Turtledove took Misty on his back. Ash tossed Brock his thunder stone to use on Thunderdog. Omegamon and Imperialdramon flew behind Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon didn't know who to attack first.

"Now, all together! Omega Cannon!"

"Ultra Cannon!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Static Warhead!"

"Tsunami Blaster!"

Kamnadramon regressed back down to a tired, floating trio of digi-clones: Keramon, Ewemon, and Maggotmon.

"Useless creatures…" The Unnamed Figure muttered.

"Let Blackwargreymon go, you traitor!" Ghenki spat.

"In your dreams! Blackwargreymon, we're out of here!"

Blackwargreymon, stupid as ever under the control of the manipulation spirals, didn't do a thing.

"_Pick me up, pick my digi-clones up, and fly us back to base!_" The Unnamed Figure spat.

"Do we shoot him down?" Mole Sprite asked.

"He's already out of range," Imperialdramon sighed. "This isn't going to be pretty, what he's planning with Blackwargreymon…"

"You don't suppose that they're going to copy Omegamon, do you?" Ghenki asked.

"They'd need a boost of energy to pull it off, like the kind you can dish out," Ken answered.

Matt cut in, "But there's no telling what all they have in their arsenal…they might just have the energy they need to do that."

"So…what do we do?" Tina asked.

"I don't know…"

As they beamed into Imperialdramon's force field, June said, "I'm sorry our date got ruined…first by rain, and then getting attacked…but…" She paused for a moment. "Thanks…for not letting him get me."

Matt was flush---not out of hormones for June, but because he didn't like June and he knew that she didn't know that he didn't like her. (…What did I just write, anyways?) "Um…no problem," Matt said.

Upon seeing Matt flush, June almost swooned: she had made Matt show a little love back! She was _in_!!!


	62. Chapter 61: The Next Tor

Chapter 61: The Next Tor

"I have to tell you that this plan just isn't going to work well," The Unnamed Figure said. "I can see a lot of things going wrong."

"He would be in shock. No one will know the difference if his behavior seems odd."

"It's not that I'm worried about; it's that you've tried one of your 'special tor' more than once before, and it didn't work."

"This one will."

******

"There is no way you're getting me into that outfit," Tina spat. "I'd burn to death!"

"Listen, I know that you always feel like you're too warm---even to the point where you wear spaghetti straps in the middle of fall, but there's no way _I_ could fit into a trench coat built for a human!" Youngdramon insisted.

"How _else_ can we do a detective scene?"

"I know, but unless you get into that coat---"

"Youngdramon, that wasn't a rhetorical question."

"Oh---well…we could just use this!" Youngdramon held a Phil Noir-style hat in her mouth.

"Hmm…not altogether the look I wanted…but it'll have to do…"

******

The orphans began to get the idea that another skit was coming up as the lights in the auditorium dimmed over them and shone over the stage. Ominous, light piano music played in a continuous loop in the background. Tina walked on stage with the detective's hat on her head, her raincoat tied around her waist, and her feet only in socks. "It had been almost three minutes since I'd last seen this informant…I hoped she'd recognize me. She had some underground connections, but only because it paid to have them…and guess who had to pay?" Tina pointed to herself. "Of course, I was scared that, one of these days, she'd end up paying a high price for slipping me dirt on The Mob. But, judging from the fact that she was still tending this bar, she was okay."

The spotlight shone on Youngdramon, who wore a small, suitcase-like backpack and was polishing a heavy-looking iron bar. Upon seeing Tina walking towards her, she asked, "P.I. Tina! What'll it be, today?"

"Something that'll knock my socks off."

"Okay, lie down."

Tina lay down on her belly, and Youngdramon swing the bar so that it just nicked her heels. Tina's socks went flying off. "Thanks. That feels good."

"No problem. Anyhow, were you just here for a shot of the good stuff, or do you want to have another one of our…shall we say, deep chats?"

"I came to uh…chat." Tina took a sheet of paper out of her pocket and showed it to Youngdramon. "You see, I've got a list of suspects that we need to narrow down."

"Okay, I can help with that easily." Youngdramon folded the sheet of paper down the middle to make it skinnier.

"Not like that…I need to eliminate a few suspects."

"Okay, I'll give _them_ something that'll knock their cerebral cortexes off!" Youngdramon wielded her iron bar above her head. "And just in case this isn't enough, I've got the heavy artillery in the back, too."

"Um…thanks."

"Have any particular ones in mind?" Youngdramon asked.

"The ones involved in the Hootlaw Caper."

"The Who?"

"The Hootlaw Caper! Somebody shot Ms. Hootlaw, right through the schoolhouse window."

"Ms. Hootlaw? The school teacher who prides herself in her formal lifestyle and hatred of all forms of fun? Yikes!"

"And I have proof of the shooting, too." Tina held up a photograph of Ms. Hootlaw holding an open magazine that had a video game title on the cover. Even though she wearing her normal teaching attire, she had a look on her face like she'd been seen naked. Tina had a transparency of the photo on the overhead projector screen, so that the orphans could see it.

"Wow. Whoever snapped the shot in question sure set it up right. This handiwork looks familiar," Youngdramon thought out loud. "This looks like the work of Eggy the Lip!" Youngdramon said.

"Eggy the Lip? Who's that?"

"That's this guy," Youngdramon answered, pulling a photo out of her backpack of Davis, trying to swallow a hard-boiled egg whole---and having some noticeable trouble.

"But…I talked to Ms. Hootlaw. She said the criminal doesn't look anything like that."

"Okay, then…the next mobster that comes to mind is Vivian the Sloth!" The next photo on the overhead was one of Mimi, sitting in a lazy-boy chair, with a huge, shaggy blanket covering her, with a fake, black, animal-nose strapped to her nose, and with paper claws on her fingers. (This was a prank Tina and Youngdramon had pulled on her while they were still in the nuclear power plant.)

"Let's see…I know the perp had claws, but not a nose like that," Tina answered.

"Then there's only one possibility left!" Youngdramon declared. "It was…_Mr. Big_!!" Youngdramon said in an ominous voice. A photo of Brock with his belly enlarged digitally was last in line. Not only was he ridiculously fat, but he had claws on his fingers that Tina had edited in.

"Nope," Tina answered. "That's not what the perp is described as. She's described as about 140cm tall, with tan scales, claws, wings, a snout like a crocodile's, and…and…" Tina looked up at Youngdramon.

"…What?! You don't think **_I_** shot Ms. Hootlaw, do you?" Youngdramon's backpack unzipped a little, and a camera fell out.

"That's it, you're going down!" Tina shouted.

"Oh, no you don't! You'll never take me alive!!!" Youngdramon spat.

Tina whipped a squirt gun out from behind her back. "Don't make me use this!"

Youngdramon pretended to be scared and ran off stage. Tina fired. She missed, but, from the perspective of the audience, it didn't look like she had missed.

Tina blew at the tip of her squirt gun. "Nothing to it." Tina turned her back to where Youngdramon had run off stage, and bent over to pick up her socks. As she was picking them up, Youngdramon came out from behind stage, holding an absolutely huge water cannon. She aimed it at Tina's protruding butt, and the music because more suspenseful. Tina pretended to be shocked and let out a shriek as the water sprayed her raincoat.

"So…you need to ask yourself one question: 'do I feel lucky?'" Youngdramon said.

"Actually, yes," Tina answered. She used her squirt gun and shot the tank of Youngdramon's gun. The tank began to leak out until the stage floor was nothing but one big puddle. "Glad my socks got knocked off," Tina said.

"Great…now, if you're going to arrest me, what're they going to do to me?"

"For a shot like that? You've got a promising career ahead of you in photography."

Youngdramon sighed in relief.

Tina slapped a pair of handcuffs on Youngdramon's front claws. "But first, let's see how well you do as a model…for mug shots!"

Youngdramon snorted.

"I always get my mon." Tina shut Youngdramon's backpack and said, "Another case closed."

******

June went dancing through the orphanage towards Tina, who was busy combing the hair of a young boy who looked like he had down's syndrome. "Tina, guess what happened to me!"

"…Did Matt ask you out on another date?"

"Almost! allll---_MOST!!_" June answered. "When I said, 'thanks for not letting that cloaked guy get me,' he flushed!"

"Doesn't he usually flush after he's…um, finished in the stall?"

June frowned. "Not _that_ kind of flush! His face went all red!"

"Oh…and that's a good thing?"

"It means that I'm having an effect on him!"

"Yeah: slingshot effect!" Youngdramon muttered.

"Listen," Tina said, "I think you're a little too…how should I put this…I think that, if you were any more in love with Matt, there would be a rift in space-time around your head, and you'd suck the entire planet into a black hole."

June hadn't taken in Tina's words. "I've got to find a way to make him do that again! I just _have_ to see his face go flush, again!"

"Why don't you just throttle him?" Youngdramon sarcastically suggested. "That would work!"

"_Youngdramon_!!" Tina hissed.

"I know what I'll do! I know _just_ what I'll do!" June raced off to her room.

Tina swallowed hard. "You know, I think that I should've done what Matt suggested to begin with: I should've had Ash tied her down with Vine Whip."

"So…what do we do, now?"

"I dunno…we might have to take drastic action!" Tina sighed.

******

"You know," Moochi said as he shot another saberstrike, "This is getting annoying. I mean, as time goes on, the groups we send out get bigger and bigger, chi!" Ash, Misty, T.K., Yolei, Kari, Golem, and Cody were all with Moochi.

"Can't be helped, Moochi," Yolei insisted. "If Terrance…or whatever his real name is…shows up again, we know that he'll have some firepower backing him up. We need to be able to deal with him."

"Frankly," Misty muttered, "I'm sick of doing _that_!"

"Relax…we'll stop him someday," Kari said. "But we still have refugees to find and control spires to destroy!"

"What do we do when we---hello! Something's up," Misty observed. She wrapped her fingers around Togetic's pokéball.

A noise was coming from down the street. It sounded like a giantor, but he wasn't alone: he was chasing something…or, more to the point, chasing some_body_: Gary.

Ash sighed and shook his head. "We knew this was going to happen."

"Who takes care of him?" Moochi asked.

"I think you do!" Yolei answered, setting the digi-egg of love at his feet.

"**Moochi, module-evolve to…Turtledove!**"

"And now, for our next trick," Misty said, tapping Turtledove with her water stone…

"Tsunami Blaster!" Turtledove fired at the giantor, and it went down.

"So…I wonder how Gary has been over the past few days," Yolei muttered.

"Not very well, apparently," Kari observed. Gary looked the worse for wear: his shirt had so many holes in it that he looked like he'd been shot with an UZI, and his hair was disheveled and matted down.

"So," Yolei asked. "_Now_ how do you feel about following rules?" Yolei asked.

"Um…uh…"

Yolei shook her head. She pulled a jacket out of her backpack and put it over Gary's shoulders. "I'd punish you, but it looks like you're learning your lesson right now."

"Um…uh…"

"Boy, your vocabulary is reduced," Ash thought aloud. "I never thought I'd say this, but you need to learn to talk some more, again!"

"Um…uh…"

"Excuse me," The Unnamed Figure cut in.

"You're excused," Kari spat. "What is it _ now_?!"

"I'd like you to meet my new---"

"We've seen it all before, Terrance!" T.K. shouted.

"You haven't seen---"

"_And_ we've heard every cliché!" Turtledove added.

"…If I may _finish_…! I'd like you to meet Kamnadramon, Air Archon Mode! **Digi-modify! Swing digivolution, activate!**"

"**Venommyotismon, swing-digivolve to…Malomyotismon!**"

"**Digi-modify!**** Mode change, activate!**"

"**Kamnadramon, mode-change to…Air Archon mode!**"

"So…who deals with this bunch?" Turtledove asked.

"How about you and Ironarchaeopteryxmon?" T.K. suggested.

"Actually, I was thinking of something a bit different," Cody said. "Ash, is Bulbasaur ready for action?"

"You bet he is!"

"Then let's show Terrance _our_ secret weapon!"

"**Armadillomon, digivolve to…Ankylomon!**"

"**Ankylomon, digivolve to…Euplocemon!**"

"**Euplocemon, co-op digivolve to…Spruce Moose!**" Spruce Moose looked like Ankylomon with a Christmas tree stuck to his back.

"You think that little creature can defeat me?!" Kamnadramon spat. "This is a joke! Darkness Laser!" A pair of black beams shot out of Kamnadramon's lower wing sections. Spruce Moose felt them each land a hit.

"Spruce Moose!" Ash shouted.

"Are you okay?!" Cody asked.

Spruce Moose didn't answer.

"Spruce Moose! If you can hear me, use Synthesis!" Spruce Moose's wounds suddenly sealed themselves, and he got up slowly. "Way to go, Spruce Moose!" Ash shouted. "Now, show him what _you_ can do! Solar Beam!" The tree on Spruce Moose's back aimed itself at Kamnadramon, and a white-hot beam flew out the branches. Kamnadramon was too quick for the shot to land a hit.

The Unnamed Figure laughed. "He's not called the Lord of the Air for nothing! Kamnadramon, destroy this group, and spare the girls!"

"Fat chance!" Cody spat. "Golem, stop him!"

"**Golem, module-evolve to…Moleg!** Laser Drill Tornado!" Kamnadramon flew straight through the purple cloud of light without taking much damage. "Energy Wedge!" The purple beam sliced through the air and just missed Kamnadramon as it flew gracefully down at them.

"Darkness Laser!" A few bolts of black energy flew down at them.

"Heat Coil!" Golem used his laser drills and reflected the shots away.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Turtledove grunted. "He's too fast for us to land a hit, and he's got enough firepower to trash us!"

"So…what do we do?" Yolei asked. "Tactical retreat?"

"Better idea: use a fighter that speed won't matter for!" T.K. shouted. "Ready for action, Patamon?"

"Hit me! **Patamon, digivolve to…Angemon!**"

"**Angemon, digivolve to…Magnaangemon!**"

"Ash, is Haunter ready for a co-op digivolve?"

"You bet he is!"

"**Magnaangemon, co-op digivolve to…Eldil!**"

"Um…Eldil? Where are you?" T.K. asked.

"I'm right here!"

"I can hear you, but I can't see you…where are you?" Ash asked.

"…I don't think my body is visible to the naked eye…"

The Unnamed Figure laughed. "I see you digivolved your measly mon into nothingness," he sneered. "It's just as well…it'll make it over all the quicker for you, and have your lady friends in my ha---"

"Night Shade!" A black beam seemed to come out of nowhere and hit Kamnadramon in the face.

"Darkness Laser!" The shot flew off into the air in the direction the Night Shade attack had come from, but to no avail.

"Night Shade!" Another beam smacked Kamnadramon from another direction. "Night Shade! Night Shade!"

Kamnadramon began flying all sorts of maneuvers to avoid being hit, but he only had some success: one out of every three Night Shade attacks was landing a hit, and the attacks weren't by any means light in firepower.

"Spruce Moose," Ash whispered, "See if you can land a hit on him while he's veering towards us!"

"Will do," Spruce Moose answered, taking aim. He waited for a while, and finally Kamnadramon began turning towards them. "Solar Beam!" The white ray sliced through Kamnadramon's wing, and Malomyotismon's components fell off. Kamnadramon Fighter Mode was all that was left.

"We're still not finished!" The Unnamed Figure snarled. "**Digi-modify!**** Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Keramon, warp-digivolve to…Armagemon!**"

"**Digi-modify!**** Swing digivolution, activate!**"

"**Armagemon, swing-digivolve to…Diaboromon!**"

"Great…this guy, again!" Kari muttered.

"I can take him!" Eldil's voice shouted out of nowhere. "Hypnosis!" Diaboromon suddenly looked very tired.

"Leech Seed!" Ash commanded, and Spruce Moose latched onto Diaboromon with an energy-draining parasite seed. "Now, quick! While he's down!" Ash pulled the sun stone out of his backpack. "Moleg!"

"Tremor Blaster!" Moleg launched his attack at Diaboromon, and Diaboromon went flying into the air.

Misty pulled out her water stone. "You too, Turtledove!"

"Tsunami Blaster!" While Diaboromon was still in the air, Turtledove blasted him and Keramon landed in The Unnamed Figure's arms.

"Now who's got who?" Spruce Moose asked as a huge vine grew out of his back and wrapped around The Unnamed Figure.

"Good question!" Kamnadramon answered. "Don't forget, I'm still here!"

"Don't forget, Eldil is still here!" Ash answered. "Eldil, use hypnosis!"

Kamnadramon covered its eyes so that the attack wouldn't put him under.

"_Elgo-tor-silef_!" The Unnamed Figure shouted. "Get me out of here!" A blob of nanobot gel flew out of nowhere onto Spruce Moose's vine and ate right through it, freeing The Unnamed Figure.

"What was that?" T.K. asked.

"How would you like to find out the hard way? _Elgo-tor-silef_, the ladies, if you would!" The gel cohered into a single, more solid shape that looked kind of like Blackgatomon, only transparent. Strands of goo flew out of its claws at Kari, Misty, and Yolei.

"Forget it!" Gatomon spat, slashing at the goo. Kari and Misty were free, but Yolei was getting choked.

Another several strands were flying out at Moleg, Turtledove, Ash, and Cody. "Eldil, help!" Ash croaked.

"Night Shade!" Eldil shouted, blasting the Putty Cat with a ray of black energy.

"You're too late to save your plant friend! Kamnadramon, if you would…"

"Mega Destroyer!" Kamnadramon fired at Spruce Moose, and he regressed back to Bulbasaur and Armadillomon.

"At least Eldil is still on our side!" Turtledove said.

A tired and worn-out Patamon and Haunter landed on the ground.

"Riiiiiiiight..." The Unnamed Figure gloated as Putty Cat threw strands of its own essence around the heroes… 


	63. Chapter 62: That Hurts

Chapter 62: That Hurts

"Oh, Matt!♫" June chanted.

Matt gulped. He had been in the middle of a pool game with Ken a moment before…and June's question had messed up his shot and sent the 8-ball spinning into the middle pocket. "Um…Hi, June."

"So…how're you today?"

_Boy, she's confident, now!_ Matt thought to himself. "I'm okay…um…how have you been?"

"Wonderful…just wonderful!" June answered. "So…how're you today?"

_She's not confident, after all,_ Matt thought. "Miserable," he answered.

"Wonderful…just wonderful…"

"Um…is there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Not really, no…no pressing topic…"

"Shall I just…leave you two alone…?" Ken asked.

Matt mouthed, "Do **not** desert me at a time like this!!!" He turned back to June. "So…um, do you play pool?"

"Pool?!" June asked. The word "pool" was the only word that had filtered into June's mind, and, since they were staying in a college, there was a pool around. She thought about Matt seeing her in a bathing suit, and her seeing Matt in a bathing suit. She shot off to her room to change and then get down to the pool.

"What was that about?" Matt and Ken asked each other simultaneously.

******

"This isn't good," T.K. muttered. "It must take so much energy to stay as Eldil that he can't keep up that form for more than a few minutes!"

"An observation made too late!" The Unnamed Figure sneered. "Now, which one of you do I kill first…?" He armed the weapon on his D-Gauntlet…

"Pika…pi-ka-_CHUUUUU!!!_" Pikachu put all he had into an electric attack directed at Putty Cat…and it worked! Putty Cat's grips began to loosen…

"**Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**"

"**Altairmon!**"

"**Gatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Swampangemon!**" Swampangemon let fly a blast of her own electricity at Putty Cat, and Putty Cat felt it.

The Unnamed Figure shot Swampangemon with his weapon. Swampangemon seemed to stand in a daze…

"Swampangemon!" Kari shouted.

"Mega-digivolve!" Yolei yelled.

"**Swampangemon, mega-digivolve to…Abyssangemon!** Justice Portal!" The open vortex began to suck Putty Cat in. Just as it went into the fiery portal, Putty Cat threw a blob of itself outside the lip of the vortex so that it would still live on…albeit less of it…

"You're forgetting me!" Kamnadramon shouted. "Mega Destroyer!"

"Flaming Sword!" Abyssangemon reflected the attack back at Kamnadramon, and he took heavy damage.

"This isn't going well," The Unnamed Figure snarled. Kamnadramon, we're getting out of here!"

As the enemy retreated, Abyssangemon asked, "What do you suppose he's planning with that Putty Cat?"

"Something bad; we can be sure of that," Kari answered.

******

"Tibemon, would you please get out of the pool? That fin isn't looking very promising!"

"…What?!"

"Tibemon, you look like a shark, swimming around in there!"

"And that's a bad thing?" she asked.

"It won't make a good impression on Matt!"

"He's seen me a million times before: if he sees my fin, he'll know it's me."

"Well…but…"

"June, you keep trying to make every meeting between you and him perfect. Now, when you hear stories about how parents met, did their dates always go well?"

"…No…I heard that Ken forgot his wallet on his second date with Yolei---"

"So you don't have to nitpick to have a relationship with him!"

June sighed. "I guess not…" A few hours later, she added, "Call me picky, but there's one detail about meeting Matt that I think is a must."

"What's that?"

"It's that Matt actually shows _up_!" June muttered. "Look at my fingers! They look like prunes! I've been in the water for hours!"

"Did Matt say he was going to meet you here?"

Then, it dawned on her… 


	64. Chapter 63: It's Out

NOTE: Minute Christian content.

Chapter 63: It's Out!

"Frankly, I'm disappointed with this thing's vulnerabilities," The Unnamed Figure said, looking at Putty Cat.

"Admittedly, it is a poor combat tor. However, it was not designed for combat."

"Then…what _was_ it designed for?"

"Stealth assassination. You are to locate their base and send our _ elgo-tor-silef_ in."

"They're too smart to lead me to it. And they know that _elgo-tor-silef_ exists: if they don't see it again, they might think something is up."

"You won't need to let them lead you to it: we have obtained the location of the building, already…"

******

"I can't believe I did something that stupid!" June whined.

"We _all_ do stupid things, June!" Tina shot back.

"Especially you," Youngdramon cut in. It wasn't altogether clear who she'd said that to.

"Besides, staying in the water for three hours isn't the dumbest thing you can do."

June moaned. "I just wish that he and I could get together! I mean, every time I come near him, my brain shuts down and I do stupid things! I'm sick of it! I just want to be able to talk to him…"

June, Tina, Ash, Izzy, Joe, Pixie, and Big Blue were all on seek patrol, together. June was obviously still in a craze over Matt, but this craze was mixed with disappointment.

"We have been searching for hours with no sign of anything worth our time," Big Blue cut in. "Mr. Izumi, I believe turning back would be prudent."

"Maybe…we're just as likely to find something on the way back as out here."

"I would not say that," Big Blue cautioned.

"I know what he means," Ash agreed. "I mean, we've kind of already searched the area the way we came. We should take a different route back."

"You're probably right," Izzy agreed. Izzy took up the lead as they walked back towards the college, but he motioned for a halt as he jumped back behind a corner: he saw that The Unnamed Figure was on his Trojan, riding towards the college, too. "It's Terrance!" he whispered.

"What do we do?" Big Blue asked.

"We've got a few options…considering that the Myotismon clone is history, we could use pretty much anything to attack him. Kamnadramon can only mode-change with the Diaboromon clone or the Metalgarurumon clone…maybe Blackwargreymon, but we're not sure."

"We've got over two hundred people counting on us back at the college!" Tina cut in. "If he knows where we are, we need to relocate, _now_!!"

"He's probably getting every menace machine within a 50-mile radius to come along with him," Joe reasoned aloud.

"Then we're looking at the biggest fight yet?" Ash asked.

"Looks like it," Izzy sighed.

Ash turned his cap 180°. "And-if-not," he said with a gulp.

"**Big Blue, module-evolve to…Iceborg!**"

"**Pixie, module-evolve to…Mole Sprite!**"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"**Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**"

"**Mermon, mega-digivolve to…WarMermon!**"

"**Tentomon, digivolve to…Kabuterimon!**"

"**Gomamon, digivolve to…Ikkakumon!**"

"**Kabuterimon, digivolve to…Megakabuterimon!**"

"**Ikkakumon, digivolve to…Zudomon!**"

Ash clutched his sun stone and the moon stone he'd borrowed from Gary. "It's time for us to get this guy, once-and-for-all!"

Megakabuterimon picked up Iceborg and the humans, and off they flew after The Unnamed Figure.

Ewemon II looked back at the approaching contingent. "Looks like we have company!" it said.

"Great…this plan would work out better if they didn't know that we were going to attack!"

"So what do we do?" Maggotmon asked.

"We lose them…**Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon II, warp-digivolve to…Borggarurumon!** …But if I'm not going to fight them, what _am_ I going to do?"

"You're going to tow this air-bike!" The Unnamed Figure shot out the Trojan's harpoon, and Borggarurumon caught it in its mouth. "Fasten your seatbelts…this is going to be a bumpy ride!" Borggarurumon flew around a corner and hit warp speed.

"Whoa…what's he up to?" Tina asked. "He has the power to fight us; why doesn't he?"

"He probably wants to take us by surprise," Izzy thought aloud.

"Do we have any hope of catching up to him?" Megakabuterimon asked.

"I do," WarMermon said. She streamlined her body and held her axe behind her back. "Here goes nothing…" Her thruster-jets roared, and she hit warp speed, too: she was even catching up to Borggarurumon. She flew above it and began firing green rays of energy down on him.

"Parasite Beam!" Borggarurumon answered. A purple laser hit WarMermon, and she could feel her energy being sapped with the hit. It didn't take long for her to fly out of the beam, but she knew she wouldn't last long in her present form…she had to make quick work of them. She shot the cord that tied the Trojan to Borggarurumon, and the Trojan was now coasting through the air, pretty much out-of-control. She flew back to the others and regressed back to Youngdramon and Tibemon.

"Well?" Izzy asked.

"That didn't go as well as we had hoped," Youngdramon sighed. "But at least we got 'em."

"You mean you killed him?"

"We wish...Terrance was essentially surfing behind Borggarurumon," Tibemon explained. "We cut his cord, and he spun out of control."

"Is he dead?"

"We didn't have time to find out."

Izzy sighed. "Let's get back to base and warn them that he's planning something."

******

To the orphans, this was just another adventure. The huge, blue, red-winged dragon was nothing but another enchanted creature from a fairy tale, and he would only bring them to more adventure. But Tina and the fighters knew that this was dangerous…and, if they were attacked, there would be little room for failure in defending themselves. Also, since they couldn't make Imperialdramon Paladin mode, anymore, they would be in trouble if The Unnamed Figure decided to try to make Kamnadramon Necrid mode.

Natasha asked, "Do they know where we are, again?"

"Yeah…they do," Tina answered.

"It never ends, does it?"

Tina shook her head. "But I know this isn't the way the world ends: The Bible says that life will be business-as-usual right up until the apocalypse…and this is anything but."

"Hmm," Natasha answered. "I just wish this would end…I wish I were a digidestined, so that I could help you and the pokémon trainers and the Monsters fight."

"I'm afraid not," Tina answered. "Cleaver checked your DNA---and everyone else's, for that matter---for the digivice gene…you don't have it."

It was depressing for just about everyone old enough to understand why they had to leave: the college had provided the refugees each with a room of their own, and now there was no telling where they would be next. For all they knew, a four-star hotel was next. Then again, it might be the town dump…

******

"They're not here?!" The Unnamed Figure snarled. "Ugh! I brought these menace machines and all my clones out here for nothing!!!"

"There's more to it than---"

"Shut up, Ewemon! The sub-major will have my head for this!"

"I can smell Imperialdramon," Borggarurumon said. "I can tell where the scent trail leads, too."

"Then follow it, already! I won't go back to the sub-major empty-handed!"

******

"Company!" Imperialdramon shouted, dodging a beam of purple light.

"**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**"

"**Moochi, module-evolve to…Turtledove!**"

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass!**"

"This doesn't look good," Misty gulped.

"Relax. Saw-grass's vision is unbelievable, and he'll be able to snipe Borggarurumon out of the sky in one shot! Gary, thanks for giving me your leaf stone!"

"No…problem…" Gary still appeared more than a little broken by his experience outside the protection of the heroes…

"Ready?" Ash asked.

"Aimed," Saw-grass answered.

"Fire!" Ash touched the leaf stone to Saw-grass…and nothing happened.

"Um…what was that?" Saw-grass asked.

"I don't know…is there a control spire around that's blocking this?" Ash asked.

"You wish!" Gary answered. He dropped the façade of being broken, stood up, and held up a spherical device. "That stone was a fake. And this is a cold fusion bomb strong enough to annihilate even Imperialdramon! If any one of you makes a false move, it's all over!" 


	65. Chapter 64: Enter Omicronmon

Chapter 64: Enter Omicronmon

"Gary…?!" Ash asked, shocked.

"That's right, Ash: I found out that the Linonian Empire treats its officers like kings, and with this betrayal, I can easily become one!"

"You're doing _what_?!" Firabbit asked.

"Go back down to your previous forms," Gary said darkly. "You have five seconds. Four, three, two…"

The advance Monsters reluctantly did as he said.

"Now, the deal was that I get half of you girls…you know, Misty, I've always liked your looks, but I never---"

"Forget it, Gary!" Ash yelled. "I'd rather get myself killed than let you have Misty!"

"If you're not careful," Gary sneered, pulling a weapon out of his pocket, "Both are going to happen!"

"Sic him, Joey!" Tina whispered. A ray of white light hit Gary in the back, and the bomb and weapon fell out of his hands and to the ground. The bomb hadn't even been armed, yet.

There were claps and whoops of victory as Gary collapsed. Ash walked slowly up to Gary and felt his wrist. He didn't have a pulse…he was dead: Joey hadn't known it at the time, but his weapon was set to lethal.

"W---what do we do?" he asked. "Should we do CPR on him? I mean, it's not like…like he'd be able to attack us again…"

They felt everything rock to one side as Imperialdramon swerved to dodge another ray of purple light.

"I don't think you'd be able to, and besides, he deserved what he got," Yolei answered, picking herself up. "Hawkmon, I think it's time for some action!"

"Indubitably! **Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**"

"**Altairmon, digivolve to…Aeroangemon!**"

Yolei shouted, "Brock, Forretress!"

"Done!" Brock shouted, hurling his pokéball at her digivice. The moment the two contacted…

"**Aeroangemon, co-op digivolve to…White Rook!**" White Rook soared out of Imperialdramon's force field.

"She won't be enough," Tai cautioned.

"You're right, Tai," Matt agreed. "Ghenki, are you ready?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Agumon, Gabumon, are you ready for a fight?"

"You bet we are!"

"Then let's go!"

"**Agumon, warp-digivolve to…Wargreymon!**"

"**Gabumon, warp-digivolve to…Metalgarurumon!**"

"**Wargreymon!**"

"**Metalgarurumon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Omegamon!**"

Omegamon flew out of Imperialdramon's force field to face The Unnamed Figure.

"Shall we?" Renamon asked.

"You know it!" Rika answered. "I'm just glad these gold cards can be copied! **Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Renamon, warp-digivolve to…Sablemon!**"

"**Sablemon, mode-change to…Surf Mode!**" Sablemon flew after Omegamon. "Let's make this fast and final!"

"That was the plan," Omegamon agreed. "But, then again, there's no telling what he's going to try next…I really wish Saw-grass would've been able to snipe this guy out of his Trojan, digi-clones and all!"

"Too late for that now," White rook sighed. "Well…here goes nothing! Hyper Beam!" The white ray smacked Borggarurumon, and he retaliated.

"Rabid Wolf Claw!" The missile was headed for White Rook.

"Protect!" Just as the missile was about to strike, White Rook shut her wings and the missile---despite its high yield---didn't deal any damage.

"**Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!**"

"**Ewemon, digivolve to…Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Maggotmon, digivolve to…Pestilimon!**"

"I don't like where this is heading," White Rook grumbled. "Hyper Beam!"

"**Digi-modify! DNA digivolution, activate!**"

"**Impostrogarurumon!**"

"**Pestilimon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Eindramon!**" One of Eindramon's spiked gauntlets extended its spike. "Hand Cutter!" He slashed at the yellow bolt of light and reflected it away.

"This is not good!" Sablemon grunted as she looked on at the C-birds that were following The Unnamed Figure.

Omegamon nodded. "I think we could use some more help! Especially if---"

"**Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!**"

"**Eindramon, mega-digivolve to…Kamnadramon!**"

"Never mind," Omegamon sighed.

Gallantmon came flying out of Imperialdramon's force field to help fight. "Lightning Joust!"

"Mega Destroyer!" The two shots cancelled perfectly.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Omegamon spat. "**Omegamon, mode-change to…Frigate mode!** Omega Barrage!" Omegamon's missiles went flying into the droves of C-birds, and the C-birds were getting picked off.

"Mega Destroyer!" Kamnadramon insisted, firing at Omegamon. Omegamon was too agile to take a hit in frigate mode, but that didn't stop Kamnadramon from trying.

"Keep holding them off, Kamnadramon," The Unnamed Figure shouted. "I'm going in for the real prize: **Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Keramon, warp-digivolve to…Armagemon!**"

"**Armagemon, swing-digivolve to…Diaboromon!**" Diaboromon jumped landed on Kamnadramon's arm. "Load me up!" he said, climbing into Kamnadramon's cannon. Kamnadramon aimed at Imperialdramon and fired. Diaboromon flew right through the force field like it wasn't even there, and landed standing over the orphans. Diaboromon wasn't interested in the orphans, though: "Cable crusher!" One of Diaboromon's huge, red-and-black claws grabbed Ghenki, and Diaboromon jumped out of the force field.

"I can see where this is going!" Davis gulped. "He's gonna try to make a clone of Omegamon!"

"We've got to stop him, _now_!" Yolei shouted. "I know it's a risk, but we have to do this: Willis, Henry! Send out your digimon, warp-digivolved!"

"On it!"

"**Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Terriermon, warp-digivolve to…Megagargomon!**"

"**Lopmon, warp-digivolve to…Kerpymon!**" The two huge megas flew out of Imperialdramon's force field after Diaboromon. "Lightning Spear!"

"Mega Barrage!" The two attacks flew at Borggarurumon, but it was quick enough to dodge. It was also quick enough to shoot Ghenki with its Parasite Beam. It was clearly extracting energy for its next move…

"Thank you very much, Diaboromon! Now, your usefulness is at its end!" The Unnamed Figure pressed a button on his D-Gauntlet, and Diaboromon began plummeting to the ground. Kerpymon caught it and plucked Ghenki out of its grip, but Kerpymon could tell that Diaboromon was another dead digi-clone.

"This guy is unbelievable!" Megagargomon thought aloud. "He shoots his wounded."

"I'm worse than that! I shoot those of my troops who are just plain in the way!! Now, Borggarurumon, we have a job to do… Blackwargreymon, if you would,"

Blackwargreymon didn't do anything.

"Blackwargreymon, get out there and prepare to DNA digivolve with Borggarurumon!!!"

Blackwargreymon jumped off the Trojan and flew towards Borggarurumon…

"**Blackwargreymon!**"

"**Borggarurumon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Omicronmon!**"

Yolei swallowed hard, as did Tai and Matt. It wasn't difficult to guess what was coming next: The Unnamed Figure was probably going to try to make some evil clone of Imperialdramon Paladin Mode…and with their own Paladin Mode available, he would probably have the better of them…especially with the C-bird backup he had.

Omicronmon seemed to be slow and stupid, thanks to the fact that it was under the spell of the control spirals that The Unnamed Figure had latched onto Blackwargreymon.

The Unnamed Figure shut down the control spirals, and they fell off of Omicronmon. "It's all you, Borggarurumon!" he said. Omicronmon opened its cannon arm and fired at Imperialdramon: "Omicron Torpedo!"

Omegamon flew in and launched a laser blast at the torpedo before it landed a hit. The explosion that the torpedo made was very big, not unlike Borggarurumon's attack had been, but Imperialdramon was outside the blast radius, fortunately.

"Time for them to _really_ see what you're capable of!" The Unnamed Figure sneered. "Omicronmon---" The Unnamed Figure heard his communications signal go off like a cell phone. "Ooooh, what _now_?!" He opened the communications channel. "What is it?"

It was the sub-major. It really hadn't been such a good idea for The Unnamed Figure to ask what it was in such a disgruntled tone, but the sub-major didn't have time to throw his weight around about tone of voice: "There had been a change of plans---apparently, I'll have to have our calculations staff terminated."

"What?! Why?!"

"Our problem is coming sooner than expected. Proceed to our other site at once."

"But I am within an inch of killing these---"

"There is no time! _Go at once!_"

The Unnamed Figure sighed angrily. "Omicronmon, Kamnadramon! New plan! Up, up, and away!"

The fighters looked on as Omicronmon and Kamnadramon flew upwards into the air, with The Unnamed Figure in tow on his Trojan.

"I don't like the feel of this," Imperialdramon gulped.

"Me either. Those guys must be up to something," White Rook agreed.

"Can we really take the risk of following them and seeing what's up?" Ken asked.

"Can we really take the risk _not_ to?" Tai asked back.

"Well, then…after them we go!" Imperialdramon said, beaming Hawkmon and Forretress into his force field. Imperialdramon and Omegamon flew after them, higher and higher into the Earth's atmosphere, until they were no longer in the atmosphere.

The C-birds suddenly began to fuse into larger menace machines: Lamprongs.

"Where _are_ we going, anyway?" Kerpymon asked. He got no answer. "Hello? Can't you hear me?"

Megagargomon turned to Kerpymon and began mouthing a few words. Kerpymon didn't hear a thing.

"Um…I can't hear you, either." Then, it occurred to Kerpymon: there is no sound in space. None of them would be able to hear what any of the others were saying. This wasn't good.

"I dunno, guys," Brock said. "This has 'trap' written all over it."

"Where _are_ we, anyhow?" Hare asked. He looked behind them, and saw Earth as he'd never seen it before: as a huge, blue ball covered in clouds and floating in space. "What's that thing?"

"That is our world," Tina answered.

"Then…how can we be _this_ high?"

"Good question."

Kamnadramon and Omicronmon suddenly flew into a lyceron jerk and went faster than light speed.

"What do we do now?" Imperialdramon asked.

"We're still going to follow them!" Davis shouted

"What if this is an even bigger trap than before?"

Davis thought for a moment. "Let's find a place for the refugees to stay, first, and _then_ let's get after them. Tell Omegamon and the others to go on ahead."

"They won't be able to hear me!"

"Then…then…try sign language!"

Imperialdramon motioned for the others to continue, and pointed to the force field on his back. The others nodded, and Gallantmon, Kerpymon, Megagargomon, and Sablemon flew into Omegamon's tailing cape. They grabbed onto it, and Omegamon flew into a lyceron jerk, himself, after the two digi-clones… 


	66. Chapter 65: The Wonders of Space

Chapter 65: The Wonders of Space

There were more places to hide than was expected: Imperialdramon had no trouble finding another, intact nuclear power plant. It was a wonder that they had missed it, but there were people inside, still running the place. These people were starving, and, provided that the heroes would provide lunch, they allowed the refugees to come inside.

"You're giving us the storage garage as an orphanage?" Tina asked. "This isn't a playground; there's dangerous equipment, here!"

Yolei shook her head. "It was the best we could do, given the circumstances."

Tina sighed. "It'll take forever to get all this stuff out of the children's reach. I'll need help moving it."

"Kari and Brock are on it. I'll scare up some other volunteers."

******

Nobody could say it, but it was clear from the looks on their faces that none of them was particularly comfortable with what was going on. Even though Omegamon and four mega digimon were nothing to sneer at, it was entirely possible that they would shortly find themselves outmatched. They were in the asteroid belt. All the asteroids were pretty much moving in the same direction at the same speed, so they weren't difficult to dodge. What was curious were the little robots that seemed to be flitting about the asteroids. They would grab onto the asteroids, pull them to huge tanker spaceships, and then slowly melt and drain the asteroids into nothing.

Gallantmon tapped Megagargomon. He motioned towards the robots, wielding his lance, as if to ask, "Do we destroy them?"

Megagargomon had an interesting answer: "Mega Barrage!" Missiles flew out and destroyed a good number of mosquitows, but Omegamon, Kerpymon, and Sablemon didn't even know that Megagargomon had done this, since they couldn't hear at all.

One of the huge tanker starships turned towards them. A pair of rings on its tanks glowed, and red-hot beams of energy flew out at the digimon.

"Lightning Spear!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Omega Barrage!"

"Laser Discus!"

"Lightning Joust!" The five attacks blew the tanker to bits, but the rings lived on after the tanker had bought it. They continued to fire.

"**Gallantmon, mode-change to…Crimson Mode!**" Gallantmon began reflecting the beams right back at the ringleaders, and the ringleaders were destroyed after about two hits.

After a little while longer, they saw it: there was a huge complex right in front of them, floating in space, adrift with the asteroids. It had airlocks and docking ports, not to mention cannons and torpedoes galore. But what was the most interesting were the two, huge, tube-like apparatus that were on either side of the complex that seemed to be moving. What they could be for was anyone's guess. The complex fired on them for a moment, but with no immediate success. Even stranger, it cut off its firing after a minute. The digimon did fire at the base, but it had a shield around it that even Omegamon's cannon couldn't penetrate. Why it would stop was anybody's guess, but, even stranger, it fired a huge, guided missile in the opposite direction.

Megagargomon gestured for them to follow the missile, and they flew after it, not knowing what they'd find. The missile soon exploded at a target off in the distance, but it was hard to make out what that target was... They barely had a chance to see it, but en even bigger missile was flying from the direction that the base had fired: it was a cruise missile, and---if they remembered the directions of other objects in the solar system correctly---it was on a course for Earth. Even stranger, Omicronmon and Kamnadramon were attacking the missile, firing away at its armor with no success.

_If that's **their **missile, then why are they attacking it?_ Omegamon wondered. _That missile has the Linonian insignia on it…and…_ This was all to puzzling. But one thing was for certain: if that missile was going to destroy Earth, then the digimon had to help the digi-clones stop it. "Omega Cannon!" Omegamon's green shot smacked the missile's warhead, and it didn't seem to do much damage at all.

The other megas followed Omegamon's lead as they flew after the missile. The missile was huge and fast-moving, and considering the technology that these aliens might have had at their disposal, this might be a missile powerful enough to destroy Earth. Omegamon kept firing, and his shots were being returned: more red beams of light came flying up at him from the ring-like device that lined the warhead.

Sablemon used her hoverboard as a shield as she flew in close for a better look at the missile. It was huge: probably bigger than any rocket that Earth had ever made. No doubt it was built in space, since raising a missile this huge out of a planet's atmosphere would have to take more energy than was worthwhile.

A beam from the ringleader smacked her board and sent her hurtling backwards. She bumped into Gallantmon on the way. Gallantmon grabbed her to stop her from spinning out of control, and pointed to about the middle of the ballistack. Sablemon couldn't guess what he was up to. She began to get a clue when Gallantmon began firing at the middle of the missile, as if there were some weakness there. Eventually, a huge, cylinder-like piece of the missile fell off, and it looked like this cylinder might have been half the missile. Unfortunately, this was nothing more than an engine stage: the missile was still alive and well.

Omicronmon seemed to stop in its attacks on the missile. He suddenly turned back and sped towards the engine stage. He grabbed the stage and began towing it back towards the missile, but he was having trouble keeping up with the missile.

Megagargomon looked at Kerpymon as if to ask, "Should I help him?" Kerpymon pointed to Omicronmon as if to say, "Go help him." Megagargomon swallowed hard, not knowing whether he could trust Omicronmon. He flew backwards, grabbed the other end of the engine stage, and began hammering his thruster jets to get the stage to speed up. Little by little, they made it past the missile and even in front of it. Omicronmon let go of the stage, and Megagargomon followed his lead. The stage neatly fell on top of the missile's warhead, thus blinding most of its sensors and stopping the ringleader cold.

Omegamon thought, _Perfect! Now, all we need to do is get it to go flying into the sun…_ He flew alongside the missile and began pushing it to go in a different direction. As soon as he was done pushing, the maneuvering thrusters on the missile's other stage began to fire: it was steering itself back towards Earth.

_Must not be as blind as we thought, now,_ Omegamon thought to himself. "Omega Barrage!" The missiles flew into the thruster exhausts, but didn't seem to do much damage. _There's **got** to be a way to get rid of this missile!_ Omegamon thought. Then, he looked at what Omicronmon was doing: it was digging its sword under the warhead, as if to pry the warhead off the thruster stage. Omegamon flew in and used his sword to ram the clamps that held the warhead to the thruster stage. One-by-one, the clamps came off. The thruster stage was loose. Kamnadramon hurled it aside, and it went flying towards the moon. The explosion it made built a new crater on the moon's face, but at least there weren't any people on the moon for that explosion to harm.

Now, the warhead was flying along with nothing to steer it. All seven fighters grabbed the warhead and redirected it. It went flying towards the sun, and even if their aim hadn't been good enough, the sun's gravity would probably do the rest of the aiming for them.

Just as Omegamon was smiling at a job-well-done, one of Omicronmon's torpedoes went flying past him. _Silly me for forgetting…although, they **are** outmatched…_

"**Kamnadramon, mode-change to…Nemesis mode!**"

_Okay…maybe they **aren't** outmatched…_


	67. Chapter 66: Pomp and Circumstance

NOTE: Heavy Christian content.

Chapter 66: Pomp and Circumstance

"I can't believe that we're divvying up Gary's stuff amongst the four of us," Ash sighed. "I mean…"

"I know, Ash…I can't believe that he would've done something like turn to the other side," Brock agreed.

"Why would he do something like that?" Misty asked. "He's hurting other people! That's _wrong_!"

"Apparently, he stopped caring that it was wrong," Tracy cut in.

"How can a person do that?"

"He just did…all he cared about was himself, and what he could get out of kissing up to Linonian generals."

Misty was absolutely dumbfounded that someone could turn that evil: evil enough for him to want to exploit her. She took up her shift on orphanage duty to replace Tina, but, even though the children were counting on her to be cheerful and to up the general morale, she couldn't bring herself to smile. All she could think about was how and why Gary had turned so bad…

She frowned and sighed so much that one of the other children started to cry. This was for almost no reason, but children crying for no reason wasn't an uncommon occurrence in the orphanage. Misty tried her best to get the child to stop crying, but it was no use…

After her shift was done in the orphanage, Misty sat down on her bunk. She felt all alone in this sea of wondering that was in her head. She let out a long, heavy sigh.

"What's the matter?" Sora asked. Sora was her roommate, but she had startled Misty, a little: Misty hadn't seen her when she first walked in.

Misty looked up at her. "Oh…nothing…"

"Doesn't sound like 'nothing' to me," Sora said, sticking her head over the side of her bunk. "What's gotten into you?"

"I…" Misty shook her head. "It's nothing, okay?"

"Listen…this planet is a nasty place. It wasn't always like this…but…" There was silence for a moment while Sora decided how she should phrase what she was going to say next. "I learned this lesson the hard way: you keep all your hurts to yourself, and you'll only get more hurt. You tell somebody else, and the feelings are more likely to go away."

"But…but…"

"It doesn't have to be me you tell…it just has to be _somebody_."

More silence answered Sora. Sora couldn't help but wonder what was going through Misty's mind: was she weighing the options, was she making excuses not to tell anyone, was she…?

"Listen…you can tell Cody."

"Cody? The priest? Why?"

"He's legally required to keep what you tell him in the confessional booth a secret."

"There _is no_ legal system, anymore!"

"Cody values the order of the Catholic Church a lot. In fact, he's been doing all he can to preserve it. He'll still follow the church's rules about confessions."

Misty swallowed hard. "Anything I ought to know before I start?"

"Usually people start out by saying, 'bless me Father, for I have sinned,' and then they say when the last time they confessed was."

"I've never done this before."

"Then say that it's the first time you've confessed."

Misty was really unsure about this, but she felt the urge to go to Cody and let it all out. She got up off her bunk and began for Cody's "chapel".

She looked around at the interior of the chapel. It had several burning candles in ornamented candelabras, and it had a single baptismal fount, but, other than this, there was no indication that this was a church building.

"How can I help you?" Cody asked. His quiet voice scared Misty for a moment, but her fears stifled themselves. "...Bless me, Father, for I have sinned…this is my first confession."

Cody motioned for her to join him. They went into a closet and left only a crack in the door behind them. The scent of dust was in the air, and it was too dark to see. Cody asked, "Tell me what you have done."

"I…I…I'm not sure what it is that I've done…"

"But you feel guilty?"

"Yeah, I do…"

"…Perhaps you haven't done anything. Guilt is an emotional reaction to bad things happening, and there's been a lot of bad things happening in this world."

There was a silence for a short while. Misty broke it: "I made a girl cry in the orphanage."

"…Is that your problem?"

"No…she cried because I can't seem to bring myself to smile, or to have any fun…"

"That isn't good."

"…Cody…did you hear about what Gary did?"

"I was there. I saw that he wanted to take advantage of you."

"It's that…I can't believe that anybody could become that evil that quickly!"

"…Misty, we don't like to say this, but people are basically evil creatures."

"What?! How can that be if we're helping other people?"

"We have been caused by God not to want to do evil things. Nothing evil exists that wasn't good at some point, and human beings are no exception. While we were still good, God put safeguards against evil in the human mind when He designed us, like people's consciences and the desire to do what everyone else is doing…even though those can go bad, too."

"If there are those safeguards, then why did Gary do that?"

"We can resist those safeguards…too easily. Gary had something that you don't have."

"What's that?"

"Extreme pride. He thought he didn't need God, or anybody else, for that matter. Do you know what rules are _really_ for?"

"…What are they really for?"

"God invented rules because He loves everyone. He doesn't just love you, and He doesn't just love me. He loves everyone, and He wants us to coexist. Rules were made to tell us how to coexist. And Gary was so proud, he didn't respect those rules."

"What rules didn't he like?"

"'Thou shalt not murder' comes to mind," Cody answered, "As does 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' He would've done those things if Joey hadn't taken the chance away from him. But one of the most important things that he refused to do was love other people."

"How can a person be in love with everyone else?"

"You don't really understand what love is, do you?"

"…Maybe not…"

"Love is the giving of oneself. You do things to other people's advantage, not always thinking about yourself. That's what love is. Gary refused to do that; he threw justice and everything else in the garbage can."

"…Where is he now?"

"I don't like talking about this kind of thing, Misty."

That answered Misty's question. "But…why?! Why does it have to be him that gets eternity there?!"

"Misty…you think it's not fair?"

"It isn't! He was one of us, Cody! What if Ash, or Ghenki, or...or _me_, what if I'm next?!"

"If you saw Ash was down, what would you do?"

"…I'd help him…"

"You have love, Misty. This is a gift from God."

"How can there be a God who allows this kind of thing to happen?!"

"Misty…do you know about how Human Rights organizations have really big pushes for their political say?"

"Yeah…"

"Sometimes, I think they're right about human rights. God gave human beings the right to choose…that means we have the ability to make the wrong choices. And with the right to choose comes the danger of making that wrong choice, and God values human rights to the point where He doesn't stop us, even though some of us make the wrong choices…all of us do more than once in our lives. And God is just; He has to punish people who make the wrong choices."

"How can I avoid making the wrong choice?" Misty asked.

Cody smiled. "Have you seen Tina heal?"

"Once, she got a nasty paper cut, and it healed in about five days when it should've taken ten---"

"I meant, 'have you ever seen Tina heal someone else'?"

"…Yeah…I was in the orphanage once, and she put her hands on a kid with a hurt arm, prayed for him, and the pain stopped."

"This same power can keep you from making the wrong choices."

"Is it some kind of force?"

"Not really, no. 'It' isn't even the right word; 'He' is a better choice."

"You mean this power is your God?"

"There is something difficult to understand about God. He is One, and yet He is Three, too. He is One God in Three Persons, and the Third Person is this power."

"…How can I get Him to help me?"

"Do you remember the Easter pageant?"

"Yeah, vividly."

"And you remember what Jesus had to do?"

"He…He had to die to bring us to God, somehow…"

"God is loving, but He is also just. Even the smallest sin means that we are counted as evil, and He has to destroy evil. We don't think that way; since we're evil, we have bent standards about how bad it really is to do something. But God is that just: even for shoplifting a 5¢ piece of candy, we should be punished.

"But the story doesn't end there by any means: since He loved us, too, He sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. Since human beings committed the crimes, a human being has to pay for it. And He did…all you have to do is accept His promise for a pardon."

"And…what if I make another wrong choice?"

"Your future crimes are _also_ paid for."

"How is that possible?"

"It just is."

"I…I'm scared that I'll make the wrong choice…" There was silence for a long time after this. As Cody's eyes adjusted more to the darkness, he saw that she had her hands folded, and a single tear was falling down her cheek. She opened her eyes. "There…I accepted it. …Now what?"

"Your penance."

Misty gulped. "What is it?"

"Help Kari make Oyarsa. Imperialdramon is leaving to help Omegamon, soon. Cleaver says that we shouldn't have taken very long, down here…we're in that kind of time field, right now."


	68. Chapter 67: I Thought I Saw a Putty Cat

Chapter 67: I Thought I Saw a Putty Cat

"Omega Cannon!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Lightning Joust!"

"Laser Discus!"

"Lightning Spear!"

The five attacks flew at Kamnadramon, but it was ready. "Omicron Blade!" it shouted, reflecting the attacks back towards them. Megagargomon was too slow to avoid taking the hit from his own attacks.

Omegamon tried circling in from behind to attack Kamnadramon, but that didn't work, either: Kamnadramon slashed at him. Omegamon turned so that his sword and Kamnadramon's sword would hit instead of Kamnadramon's sword and his side, and Omegamon went spinning away, disoriented, though unharmed.

Sablemon motioned for them to flank Kamnadramon on all sides, and then fire. Kamnadramon was very agile, however, and refused to make it easy for them to manage to get on all sides of it. It flew in between the digimon and around them, and managed to keep them from succeeding in flanking it.

Suddenly, it decided to take some offensive action of its own: "Positron Laser!" Purple rays fired out the eye-like spots on its chest. The rays were small, but when they hit the asteroids behind them, the asteroids disintegrated.

"Omega Barrage!"

"Mega Barrage!" The two missile attacks flew at Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon suddenly seemed to disappear and reappear a few hundred meters away: it had just gone into a lyceron jerk. The only things the missiles blew up were themselves.

Omegamon decided to take a risk: he did a lyceron jerk and flew sever kilometers away from the battlefield. Then, he flew back in a lyceron jerk, poised to use his sword to ram Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon's wing was left in tatters.

Even though it knew Omegamon would never hear it, Kamnadramon spat, "You'll pay for that! Positron Laser!" The beams flew at Omegamon, and Omegamon was barely quick enough to dodge. Omegamon's cape was riddled with holes.

"Laser Discus!"

"Gargo Missile!"

"Lightning Spear!"

"Lightning Joust!" The four mega digimon's attacks smacked Kamnadramon in the back. Kamnadramon staggered, then began flying at them in lyceron jerks. It was less than four meters from Sablemon when it slashed at her with its sword. Sablemon was barely able to dodge.

"Gargo missile!"

"Lightning Spear!" The attacks flew towards Kamnadramon, but it did another lyceron jerk. This time, it was about to attack Kerpymon.

Kerpymon grabbed Kamnadramon by the arms. The two were locked in a stalemate, and tumbling through space so rapidly and chaotically that no one else could get a clean shot. Finally, Kerpymon went spinning away from the fight. Kamnadramon was firing after him like there was no tomorrow.

Kamnadramon felt another two attacks hit it in the back. It had been a yellow beam from Oyarsa, and another golden beam from Imperialdramon.

"So…what's the plan?" Davis asked.

"Maybe we should ask them," Kari thought aloud, motioning towards the digimon outside.

"Hey," Imperialdramon thought aloud, "Gallantmon's trying to tell us something…I think he wants us to go with him up the asteroid belt!"

Purple lasers flew their way.

"Looks like Kamnadramon doesn't want us to follow him," Tina cut in.

"Then we had better follow Gallantmon!" Brock shouted. "If Kamnadramon doesn't want us to do something, it's probably important for us that we do it!"

Gallantmon beamed into Imperialdramon's force field and shouted, "There's some kind of alien space station a ways down the asteroid belt. We need to get there and see what's going on!"

"Any idea what they're up to, over there?" Imperialdramon asked, going into a lyceron jerk.

"No. But since Kamnadramon is following us, it's something important!"

"Kamnadramon is after us?" Imperialdramon asked. "I'll fix that! Patriot Marauder!" A barrage of missiles flew out of Imperialdramon's mouth and rained backwards on Kamnadramon. That made Kamnadramon stagger for a moment.

"Careful, though: that thing has shields that Omegamon's cannon didn't even have the guts to penetrate!"

"Where can we get the firepower to deal with a shield like that?" Ken asked.

"I have one guess," Davis answered, looking at Kamnadramon.

"How in the world can we get Kamnadramon to shoot his own complex?" Hare asked.

"Oh...a tough one... I've got it! We get him to shoot you, and then you reflect the shot at the complex's shield generator," Davis answered.

"Are you nuts?!" Hare asked.

"You _know_ the answer to that question," Tina cut in.

"Now is _not_ the time, Tina!" Ken cut in. "Just do your thing!"

"**Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!**"

"**Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!**"

"**Ikudramon!**"

"**Savamon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Mermon!**"

"**Mermon, mega-digivolve to…WarMermon!**"

"The egg of courage, if you please!" Hare shouted. "**Hare, module-evolve to…Firabbit!**"

Brock threw Firabbit his fire stone as they slowed to a halt, and Imperialdramon let WarMermon and Firabbit out of his force field.

"Vocal Blaster!"

"Mega Flame Cannons!"

The two attacks roared past Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon didn't fire at them, though: it charged them with a lyceron jerk. WarMermon dodged over the slice of its sword and smacked its chest with her axe. One of its two laser eyes was down for the count.

Firabbit circled around and blasted it in the back. Its tattered wing took more damage.

_I feel like I'm being eroded like a rock in a stream!_ Kamnadramon thought to itself. "Omicron Blade!" It slashed at Firabbit, narrowly missing.

"Mega Barrage!"

"Lightning Spear!"

"Lightning Joust!"

"Omega Cannon!"

"Vocal Blaster!"

"Hyper Beam!"

This barrage of attacks was enough to get its attention. It couldn't avoid all the attacks, but reflected some of them with its swords and sent half of them flying into the station shield…and that wasn't enough to punch through.

"Time to get more fighters out there!" Cody thought aloud.

"Count me in!" Suezo shouted.

"I'm with you!" Pixie agreed.

"**Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass!**"

"**Pixie, module-evolve to…Mole Sprite!**"

The two advanced Monsters flew out to join the fight. "Retina Beam!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Positron Laser!" Kamnadramon more than cancelled the two attacks.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Davis shouted. "Maybe if all of us concentrate our attacks on one spot on the shield, it'll give!"

Gallantmon nodded. "I'll get out there, and Imperialdramon and I will keep shooting at one spot. Hopefully, the others will catch on to what we're doing and join in."

Imperialdramon and Gallantmon fired their attacks at the shield, and they weren't making a dent. Omegamon and WarMermon joined in, and the shield looked at though it might give way.

"Positron Laser!" Kamnadramon fired at WarMermon, and she stopped her attack. She used her axe and reflected the shot back at the station, and it punched through the shields and smacked the shield generator.

Imperialdramon flew down into the station and let out the humans. "It's time we take care of this Kamnadramon pest, once and for all! He's going the way of the dodo! **Imperialdramon, mode-change to…Fighter mode!**"

"You, too, Omegamon!" Tai shouted.

"Switch to your normal mode! You'll have more agility fighting him!" Matt shouted.

"**Omegamon, mode-change to…Contender mode!**"

"So…what do we do in here?" Tina asked.

"You die at the hands of this _elgo-tor-silef_!" The Unnamed Figure answered. It was Putty Cat: the blob was back.

"You think we're afraid of your little blob?" Ash asked. "Guess again! Pikachu, thundershock it!"

Putty Cat was a bit too agile to get hit.

"Let's try something else on him!" Misty suggested. "Its body is made of liquid! Let's hit it with ice attacks and freeze it solid!"

"Right! Articuno, go!" Brock shouted.

"Lapras, go!"

"**Armadillomon, digivolve to…Ankylomon!**"

"**Ankylomon, digivolve to…Euplocemon!**" Euplocemon looked at Putty Cat. He was too huge to turn his whole body to face him, but he could see his opponent. "Anti-Heat Cannon!" A blue ray flew out of the black lens on Euplocemon's back. It didn't quite hit Putty Cat.

"Lapras, Ice Beam!" Ash shouted. Lapras fired at Putty Cat, but Putty Cat was still too agile to be hit.

"Articuno, Blizzard!" Articuno's more wide-angle attack made Putty Cat wish it wasn't liquid, but it wasn't totally solidified.

The Unnamed Figure shouted, "_Elgo-tor-silef_, time to take a more offensive stance! Show them what you're _really_ capable of!"

Putty Cat flew onto Euplocemon, but only stayed for a moment. The next second, it flew onto the wall and made itself into a lens-shape, similar to what was on Euplocemon's back. A strange shout of, "Anti-Heat Cannon!" came from Putty Cat's direction, and Euplocemon was hit with his own attack. His feet were frozen to the ground, but he could still return fire: "Anti-Heat Cannon!" Putty Cat shifted itself out of the way to avoid the shot. "Anti-Heat Cannon!" he shouted again, and Putty Cat kept relocating.

"Lapras, Ice Beam!"

"You too, Articuno!"

"If you think your petty ice attacks can get rid of _elgo-tor-silef_, you're dead wrong!" The Unnamed Figure shouted.

"It's not our attacks that'll get rid of Putty Cat!" Misty said, looking at the airlock on the wall where Putty Cat was crawling.

"It's the vacuum of space!" Davis added, catching onto her plan.

"Huh?"

The Unnamed Figure watched as Euplocemon, Articuno and Lapras's attacks made Putty Cat jump from one place to the next, until it decided that the airlock was the best means of escape.

Tina shouted, "Joey, shut the airlock and send the menace machine inside out into space!"

Joey hopped out of Tina's pocket and said, "No is 'menace machine'. Is _tor_."

"Whatever! Just send it into space!"

"Okee-dokee!" Joey hopped up to the controls of the airlock and shut the inside doo.

"NO!!" The Unnamed Figure shouted. On his last leg, he raised his gauntlet and shouted, "Joey, stop what you're doing, or I start shooting!"

Unfortunately for him, there were so many people that he couldn't aim his weapon at everyone at once. Pikachu was one step ahead of him; he shocked The Unnamed Figure and sent him into unconsciousness. Joey promptly opened the outside door to the airlock and blew the Putty Cat out into space.

"Now what?" Tina asked.

"Now we see what this complex is," Ken answered.

"Joey, what can you read in here?" Tina asked.

"Joey not know…Joey see that _weda__ rewenutha_ is over there," Joey answered.

"What does a _weda__ rewenutha_ do?" Ash asked.

"It make…stuff so that everything can do stuff."

"So…it's vital to the workings of this station?"

Joey snorted. "No use words Joey no understand!"

Tina cut in, "If there no _weda__ rewenutha_, would stuff do anything, here?"

"Nope-nope."

"The basic answer to your question, dad, is 'yes'."

"Then let's have a look at it." They ran into the _weda__ rewenutha_, and found out that it was the energy generator for the whole station. It took fuel from a pair of huge tanks and burned it to make energy. "You know…this generator isn't that big…this station can't be that versatile."

"Then why would they put so many weapons on it?" Davis asked. "I mean, if it's not that important, they wouldn't protect it like this."

"Maybe if we found out what those nacelles on the side of this thing are, we'd learn what was going on," Brock said.

"Right." Tina kneeled down next to Joey. "Does Joey know what things on side of this building are?"

"Things?" Joey asked with an inquisitive squeak.

"Things look like that," Tina answered, picking Joey up and taking him to a window.

"Oh! Those things _grimn__ af'tato derui_!"

"What to they do?"

"They throw…things."

"Joey know what kind of things?"

"Nope-nope."

"So…they're launchers of some kind?" Ken asked.

"That sounds like a good guess to me," Tina answered.

"But if we don't know what they're going to launch, what do we do?" Misty asked.

"We take the control room by storm!" Tina answered.

Sablemon went spinning through the atmospheric force field of the station's landing bay and regressed back to Renamon. Tina kneeled next to her. "No…we need more fighters out there!" Renamon groaned.

"Shall we test out my new form?" Euplocemon asked.

"Let's go for it! Brock, is Steelix ready for a fight?" Cody asked.

"You bet he is!"

"Then let's so this!"

"**Euplocemon, co-op digivolve to…Blasteroid!**" Blasteroid proudly flew out of the force field to see what he could do about Kamnadramon.

"So…let's get to that control room, already!" Tina shouted.


	69. Chapter 68: Iron Mine!

Chapter 68: Iron Mine!

Kamnadramon was definitely winning hands-down. It knew what tricks the advanced monsters, digimon and pokémon could play; it wasn't about to be fooled. It knew that they would probably have the firepower to waste him, if given the opportunity, so it kept moving in a lyceron jerk away from them, the moment before they could land a hit.

"Rock Throw!" Blasteroid opened his mouth, and super-speeded boulders flew out at Kamnadramon. Not one landed a hit.

"Omega Barrage!"

"Mega Barrage!"

Kamnadramon did a lyceron jerk away from the two missile attacks.

"Mer Poleax!"

"Imperial Sword!" The two mega, DNA digimon few in for the kill with their short-range, powerful moves---only to find that their target was elsewhere.

"Mega Flame Cannons!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Retina Beam!"

Kamnadramon felt only one of the attacks hit it: the Retina Beam. After that his, it beamed away, again.

"Hyper Beam!"

"Rock Throw!"

Kamnadramon was too fast for those attacks, too.

******

Back inside the station, Ash, Brock, and Misty's pokémon were trashing the Linonian scientists and security guards who were still inside the control room.

"So…we still need to figure out what those launchers are," Davis said.

"Joey fix-it!" Joey shouted, hopping out of Tina's pocket.

"There's one thing that doesn't add up, though," Ghenki thought aloud.

"What's that?" Davis asked.

"Why would these aliens destroy their own missile? And why would they want to destroy Earth in the first place if they have so much of their own stuff on Earth?"

"Good question…maybe the missile wasn't supposed to go to Earth, or something…"

Joey let out a loud whistle. "Joey find out what this building for!" Joey had found a graphical simulation of the station's purpose. He switched on the simulation, and, on the computer screen, the station's four launchers deployed and let out a quartet of rockets. The rockets flew out to beyond the borders of the asteroid belt, and then some kind of net-like apparatus appeared between the four rockets. Then the rockets flew along the asteroid belt, and the net-like apparatus caught each asteroid and made it disappear.

"What are those things?"

"They called _krahn__ jatato_," Joey answered, looking at the nets. "They use them for movin' stuff long ways."

"You mean they're trying to move our asteroid belt?" Ash asked. "What's the point of that?"

"Maybe they want to put a planet here, instead," Brock suggested.

"Maybe…hold on a sec! Asteroids are made of iron and silicates," Tina realized. "And Joey said that silicon was something that didn't exist in the rest of the universe…so it's really rare, and so---"

"These asteroids are like a gold mine to these aliens!" Ken finished.

"Hold on, there might be even more to it than that," Tai cut in. "When we beat Obelimn, Matt and I noticed that it was made out of silver, when steel or titanium would be a better choice for a metal to build it out of. Maybe they don't have iron, either."

Ken nodded. "…So these asteroids are _ really_ a gold mine! Where are they beaming these to, Joey?"

Joey snorted in frustration. "No use words Joey no understand!!" he insisted.

"Where they gonna move 'em?" Tina asked.

"Joey fix-it," Joey answered, working at the controls, again. He looked at the screen and started shivering. "They gonna put all this _ kamnalatato_ in middle of their…house!"

"And if they get the…_kamnalatato_, what they gonna do?" Tina asked.

Joey let out a terrified whistle and jumped back into Tina's pocket.

"Joey…Joey, we need you out here!"

"Joey no wanna think about what they gonna do with _kamnalatato_!"

"Joey no hafta. Joey fix-it. Joey make it no move stuff."

Joey slowly crept out of Tina's pocket and began working the controls, again. "No can stop!"

"Then we have to destroy this base!" Ken thought.

"We can't do that while Kamnadramon is keeping everyone busy," Ghenki muttered.

"If only _we_ could make Paladin mode!" Davis groaned.

******

Back outside, Kamnadramon was still winning.

"Lightning Joust!"

"Lightning Spear!" The two attacks flew at Kamnadramon, and Kamnadramon reflected the attacks right back at them. There was enough room to dodge, but the attacks hadn't done their jobs.

Omegamon withdrew his cannon and let his sword out. He flew into a lyceron jerk at Kamnadramon and let his sword fall on it.

"Omicron blade!" Kamnadramon answered. Kamnadramon's sword easily blocked Omegamon's attack.

"Retina Beam!"

"Hyper Beam!" Kamnadramon felt another two attacks pummel its injured wing, nearly slicing it off.

"That does it!" Kamnadramon shouted. "Time to finish these pests!" Kamnadramon flew to the other side of the station and grabbed one of the cannons that protruded from the side. It aimed the cannon at the heroes and fired again and again.

Omegamon, Imperialdramon, and Gallantmon began using their swords to reflect the attacks away. They had to do some fancy flying to avoid being hit, themselves, but they suddenly felt something as they closed in on each other…there was some trick that they hadn't tried before that was beginning to rise to the surface… 


	70. Chapter 69: Deployed!

Chapter 69: Deployed!

Omegamon, Imperialdramon, and Gallantmon could tell from the looks on their faces that they all felt like something weird was going on, as though they were combining their energies into one attack…they began moving their swords in circles, both to reflect the attacks, and because some kind of instinct was driving their moves…

Kamnadramon's rate of firing attacks and the speed at which its projectiles were moving slowed unbelievably. The fighters outside didn't understand what was going on at all at first, but it dawned on them one-by-one that this was because Omegamon, Imperialdramon, and Gallantmon were somehow slowing down time for Kamnadramon.

WarMermon closed in on Kamnadramon. Its eyes slowly moved towards her.

"Mer Poleax!" she shouted (not that anyone could hear it). She hacked away at Kamnadramon's arm before it could react, and its sword went flying out of its hand. WarMermon smacked Kamnadramon's cannon with her axe again, and then grabbed the sword and flew away.

It seemed like everyone knew to combine their attacks to get Kamnadramon, and that's just what they did:

"Retina Beam!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Mega Flame Cannons!"

"Lightning Joust!"

"Lightning Spear!"

"Hyper Beam!"

"Rock Throw!"

"Vocal Blaster!"

Kamnadramon looked the worse for wear, but it was still alive. That had to be changed: WarMermon looked at the sword she had just swiped from Kamnadramon and grinned. She motioned to Megagargomon to take it and run Kamnadramon through, since she wouldn't be as dexterous with a sword ten times her size.

Megagargomon flew in for the kill and stuck Kamnadramon. Kamnadramon was instantly dead. Omegamon, Imperialdramon, and Gallantmon stopped their attacks and looked at the sword, who was transforming back into Omicronmon. Omegamon motioned for the station and flew at Omicronmon, and immediately was locked in a draw with it.

WarMermon got the idea that Omegamon wanted someone to see how the fight was going inside and figured she was small enough to get inside the station. She tapped Oyarsa and Firabbit on the shoulder and motioned for them to enter the station.

They found their human friends intently watching Joey try to hack the Linonians' computers. "What's the situation?" WarMermon asked.

"You're back?" Tina asked back.

"Kamnadramon is history, and Omegamon and the others are taking care of Omicronmon."

"With Omicronmon against all the rest of us, there's not much he can do," Firabbit pointed out.

"That's good, but we just found out what this station is for!" Kari said.

"They're trying to move the asteroid belt to another solar system in the middle of their territory!" Brock added.

"…The purpose being?"

"These rocks are like a gold mine to them," Ghenki answered.

"It looks like our solar system has a whole bunch of elements that are really rare in the rest of the universe," Ken added.

"…So these aliens' budget expands like Suezo at an all-you-can-eat buffet if we don't stop this thing?" Firabbit asked.

"Exactly. We're trying to hack into their computers and stop it right now."

"How's that going?"

Joey cut in, "Joey try stop the thing from throwing, it no work. Joey try make things it throw stick so no can throw, it not work. Joey try blow up this place, it no work. Joey try somethin' else…"

"Whatever it is, work fast!" Brock cut in. "I might have this system of numbers all wrong, but I think we have less than three minutes before launch!"

******

"Have this communiqué sent to the homeworld's orbital station," the sub-major grinned as his subordinates began working the communications consoles. It was clear from the looks on their faces that they were doing something big: the sub-major had been stressed, lately, ever since they received their first communication from headquarters, but now, he seemed quite pleased with himself.

He cleared his throat. "This is Sub-major Jelna to headquarters. You will find that Earth is still where it should be and intact, despite the _ atrio-tor-ritap_ that you sent to Earth. I had the missile destroyed because you were misinformed so as to the downfall of the homeworld. Those brown, six-legged creatures that multiplied and devoured us out of house and home only made it to the homeworld because of the incompetence of the security staff of the cargo vessels that brought back the first samples.

"I, on the other hand, am perfectly competent and effective in carrying out the Empire's wishes, and I can prove it. The safest system in our space is the _L'toreh_ system, and that is the target for our next operation. We intend to move the crown of this system to the _L'toreh_ system, thus giving the Empire enough budget to make thirty times the number of ships we have now and break the stalemate we have with the Rendilians.

"You will receive the asteroids shortly after you receive this transmission."

He turned to his staff. "How soon before they receive it?"

"The temporal tunneling system appears to be working well, sir. We are getting a channel back, now."

"Quicker than I had anticipated, but I suppose that this is a good surprise. Put them through."

The colonel's face appeared on screen. "Sub-major, are you denying that the loss of the homeworld was your liability?"

"I am."

"This is an audacious move for you, sub-major. If your results are not exactly as you say, then I will order your own staff to eliminate you, right here."

"You will not be disappointed, Colonel. I promise you that."

"When exactly will we be receiving the crown?"

"Operations?" the sub-major asked his subordinate at the console.

"Fifty seconds, sir."

******

Joey let out a loud whistle and said, "Joey no can do any more!" as he hopped into Tina's pocket.

"You can't just give up!" Ghenki shouted, but he realized why Joey had said that: the rockets suddenly launched. "That _ definitely_ isn't good!"

"Let's get after those rockets and destroy them, before they make it any further!" WarMermon shouted. She and the others flew after it with all speed, followed closely by Imperialdramon in his Dragon mode. They were closing in on the rockets fast… "Vocal Blaster!" The shot flew at one of the rockets, but it was absorbed into a shield. _Great,_ she thought, _These__ things are shielded, too!_

"Ultra Cannon!"

"Mega Flame Cannons!"

The two attacks combined didn't do any better against the shield.

"Hyper Beam!" Oyarsa tried. It didn't work any better than before. _If only Eldil were here!_ Oyarsa sighed.

The four fighters kept at it, but weren't having any success. WarMermon got an idea, but she couldn't relate it to the others, since there was no sound in space. She went into a lyceron jerk back towards the station and grabbed another of the cannons that Kamnadramon had been using. She switched on the sniper-scope and zeroed in on the rockets. She fired, and the beam smacked the shields…and didn't quite penetrate. She fired again and again, but there was no effect: the rockets weren't even changing course…she realized with horror that the station would also be beamed through the rocket's portable portal if they didn't get out. She flew into the station and shouted, "You guys need to get out of here _right now_!"

"There's no point in destroying the station if---"

"_NOW!!_" WarMermon insisted, opening the hatch to the escape pod. "I'll explain later! Just get away from the station! Now!"

Tina let Joey out, and he steered the pod away from the station. The four rockets flew past the station and swallowed it up in their portal, and Imperialdramon, Oyarsa, and Firabbit were still chasing the rockets, firing like there was no tomorrow. The rockets went on for a little ways, then their fuel sputtered out, and died. The rockets exploded from the inside, having had a self-destruct feature hard-coded into them.

Ken sighed. "I wonder how much they got out of this…"

******

"This is boring."

"What?"

"I said this is boring. I cannot even think for five minutes without thinking about how depressingly boring this job is."

"How do you mean?"

"There are others of our race risking their lives on the front lines of battle, but we are stuck with this job at a listening post. What _are_ we listening for?"

"Anything and everything."

He snorted. "There _is_ nothing! There is nothing to listen to! Look at these sensor readings! What do you see? Is there a blip on the radar screen?"

"No…"

"Is there a single subspace interference on the pattern reader?"

"I don't see one---"

"Well, then, how about let's look out the window! What could there possibly be to see out the window?"

His colleague didn't answer: he was staring out the window with a very difficult-to-read expression.

"Answer me! What is there to see out the window!?"

"The iron!"

He let out an inquisitive squeak and looked. There were huge, brown and grey chunks of iron and silicates floating a few hundred thousand kilometers from their listening post.

"Well…remember what I was saying about depressingly boring?"

"Yes, you made what you said very clear and memorable."

"I don't remember any of it."

"You have good reason not to…" 


	71. Chapter 70: Not Quite

Chapter 70: …Not Quite

Omicronmon and Omegamon had been locked in a stalemate for a long time, but Omegamon suddenly gained the upper hand: Omicronmon convulsed and let go of Omegamon, wildly thrashing about as if in pain. Omegamon deployed his cannon and backed away, knowing that Omicronmon might be using this as some sort of trick.

Suddenly, Omicronmon seemed to change: its dark purple armor began to change into gold, and the inside of its cape took on a gold color, too. It stood motionless for a moment, then opened its eyes. A look of bewilderment filled its expression as it looked itself over.

Omegamon didn't know what this could mean, but he kept his cannon aimed at Omicronmon to see what he'd do next. Omicronmon seemed to be speaking, but there was no sound in space: Omegamon couldn't hear him. Omicronmon was surprised that it couldn't hear itself.

There was no point in staying around the area, so Imperialdramon beamed the escape pod into his force field. But nobody knew what to do about Omicronmon.

WarMermon had an idea: she flew in close to Omicronmon with her axe ready to strike. Omicronmon looked at her like she was nuts, but didn't do anything to counterattack. It was as if it trusted her not to attack. She was satisfied that he wouldn't attack any time soon, so she motioned "all clear" to the other fighters and flew into Imperialdramon's force field and regressed back to Tibemon and Youngdramon.

The others reluctantly followed her lead, and Imperialdramon, Omicronmon, and Omegamon flew back towards Earth. The question of what was going on with Omicronmon and the question of what would happen now that the Linonians had the asteroids weighed heavily on their minds, and their attention was split between their guilt for not having been able to defeat the Linonians' plan and their worry that Omicronmon might attack.

Tina sniffed back a tear and pulled Joey out of her pocket. "It's okay…Joey tried."

"Joey tried and tried and tried…them _agazriitato_ not know nothin'! They let me move 'em!"

"I know…the _ agazriitato_ have the _kamnalatato_, now---"

"Why Tina think _agazriitato_have_ kamnalatato_, now?"

"They throw things and move _kamnalatato_, so they must have it!"

"Nope-nope!" Joey grinned.

"…Huh?"

"Joey didn't say he make throw move the _kamnalatato_ to Joey's house?"

"…What?"

"Joey make throw things move the _kamnalatato_to Joey's house. No to _agazriitato_'s house."

"…You mean that Joey has _kamnalatato_, now?"

"Joey's friends get it."

Tina let out a sigh of relief and laughed. "Guys, Joey hacked them!"

"What?" Ash asked.

"Joey found out that the shutdown sequence, the docking clamps for the launchers, and the self-destruct were all protected things on the computer: he couldn't access them. But they didn't bother to put security lockouts on the destination!"

"So…if _we _don't have the asteroids, and the Linonians don't, either, then who does?" Tai asked.

"Joey's friends…whoever they are. Maybe he means his race, or some allies of his race. He doesn't speak much English, so he can't tell us more."

"Well…that's a relief," Davis said, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah…"

******

"We have been awaiting the crown for half an hour!"

"The teleportation system deployed half an hour ago, Colonel. You should have them."

"I tire of this waiting. Security, eliminate the sub-major."

"Belay that, security," the sub-major insisted, trying desperately not to lose his cool.

"Don't belay it: immediately!" the colonel insisted. The sub-major was dead after a moment.

"Colonel…we are without a leader, as of now," the security chief said, shakily.

"You are promoted to leadership. Now, get everyone off that world. We are deploying another _ atrio-tor-ritap_ to destroy it: Protocol Omega must be carried out."

"…Understood, sir." 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: These chapters are getting too short...I need longer ones.


	72. Chapter 71: Guess What's Back

NOTE: Some Christian content…or, at least, there is if you can figure out what they're saying below. There's some more after it, too.

Chapter 71: Guess What's Back!

"I cannot believe that our budget has exceeded this amount!" the admiral said.

"It is true: we were unaware of the presence of these asteroids in the _Tren'ka_ system before our listening post reported them. But there is enough there to make us more powerful by a factor of ten."

"…This is the fulfillment of the prophecy, is it not?"

"I don't see how it isn't. The Eternal One did promise us victory in this manner."

"Indeed, He did."

"But…where did the asteroids come from? A crown that size cannot appear out of nowhere."

"Whether its appearance was supernatural or not is unimportant: it is the work of The Eternal One. We must use it to secure the _Kamnala_ system. They have a similar belt of asteroids there, and if the Linonians are planning to teleport the asteroids elsewhere, into their space, then they will receive a budget increase similar to the one we have just received. This will escalate the war to cataclysmic proportions."

"We already have a project to build a new starship capable to penetrating any defense. It is called the Liberator."

"Increase funding to that project. Build its rams and cannons out of the iron, if you have to."

******

"Youngdramon, I just had a thought," Tina said.

"Wow. Third time this year," Youngdramon wisecracked.

"Ha-ha. …Anyway, Joey just tilted the balance of power in a galactic fight. I think that deserves some kind of a hero party."

"You're thinking that we need to do another event? Like the Easter pageant all over again?"

"Something like that. I'm thinking something with all the kids in the orphanage, with space heaters all over the place. Those space heaters will drive me nuts, but I'll survive. Since Joey's planet must be some kind of hot desert world, he'll like having heating all over."

"Where are we going to get that many space heaters?"

"How tough can it be for Cleaver to slap a plug on some parts from a stove and get some heaters made?"

Matt nudged Tai. "Tina is the world's biggest schmoozer. She's going to try to get Cleaver to do her work for her. She got me to play Jesus in the Easter Pageant, and she got me to make June think I was in love with her."

"And you're not, right?"

"Of course not, Tai! Do you think I'm psycho?"

"Gimme a break! Planet Earth has gone psycho…a guy has to be sure."

Unfortunately for Matt, June had heard those words…and it cut her heart in two, not to mention made her very, _very_ angry with Tina.

Tina felt a blow to the side of her head. Her first guess was that this was from somebody's tail being in the wrong place at the wrong time; accidents like that were sadly common on Earth. As the two images that her eyes were giving her came together, she saw that she was wrong: it had been June's deliberate punch.

"Tina, you lying witch!"

"Wha---what did I do?"

"You said Matt had a crush on me! You lied through your teeth about love!" June sobbed.

"June, if I hadn't said that, you'd be---"

"You witch!" June lunged at Tina, and the two began fighting. Tina was winning, of course, but that didn't matter: Davis grabbed June and pinned her down, and Ken grabbed Tina out of the fight, too.

"What is going on here?"

"A lie coming to the surface," Matt answered. "One that I stupidly played along with---it was stupid no matter _ how_ you look at it."

Hare muttered to Suezo, "Pay up: I told you so!"

"Yeah, my bad for putting my money on the girl who talked you into making a fool of yourself on stage. Too bad we didn't shake on it."

"You _can't_ shake on it; you don't have any hands!" Hare pointed out.

Ken asked, "Tina, what happened?"

"I told June that Matt was in love with her because she had a crush on Gary. She would've gone with Gary in his little mutiny if I hadn't said that, and she'd probably be in Terrance's harem right now if I hadn't, too!"

"June, what happened?" Davis asked.

"Tina lied to me! All my life, I've been after Matt, from the time when I first saw him playing his harmonica in eighth grade! Now, Tina tells me my childhood dream is coming true, and it's a lie!"

"At least you're still alive!" Tina pointed out.

"I'd rather be in Terrance's clutches, right now!" June shot back.

"You don't really mean that!" Tina shot back. "…Okay, I admit it, I lied through my teeth…I'm sorry for doing this…I didn't know that you were that much after Matt!"

"I am!" June shot back. "Now, how about _ you_ knowing what it feels like to have your dreams get nailed! How about I duct-tape Ingrid to an anvil and throw her in the Pacific Ocean?"

"June, shut up!" Davis spat. "You're just yelling like this because you're angry. You're not really about to kill Ingrid, and you know it. So stop talking like you are!"

June kept her lip buttoned, but she wasn't about to forgive Tina for this.

******

Tina was glad that the children were all wearing raincoats: that meant that her sweat wouldn't soak into their clothes. She felt broiling hot at the party (although she was the only one who felt like that), and was stripped down to the point where she was only wearing her Olympic swimsuit---which was by no means revealing. Tina had to drink huge amounts of ice water to stay alive under all the warmth that was coming from the space heaters.

June wasn't at the party, needless to say. She didn't want to have anything to do with Tina after a shock like that, and she _certainly_ didn't want to DNA digivolve Savamon and Ikudramon together---fortunately, there had been no need to do that, lately.

Tina had to suppress the suffering of the 75° heat and the guilt of having lied to June so that she could keep a smile on her face for the children. It wasn't easy, but she had managed to keep a smile on her face through a booster shot: she would be able to stand this, too.

"Hey, Tina!" Youngdramon shouted. "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the orphanage?"

"Not funny, Youngdramon," Tina shot back.

"You say that to just about everything I say," Youngdramon said, using her wings to fan Tina. (She had said it more in retort than in reflection.)

"It _isn't _funny…Youngdramon, why _do_ you make wisecracks?"

"I dunno…just for the fun of it."

"You're the only one who has fun. This isn't a sitcom, you know."

"It isn't? …You're right; it's more like a soap opera. This thing with you and June---"

"Now, don't mock that. I know that what I did was wrong, but you won't make me feel any better by joking about it."

Youngdramon swallowed her urge to make another wisecrack: this was serious. "Is it getting you that bad?"

"Yeah…I lied to her, and it hurt her _way_ more than I thought it would."

"Well…you chose the lesser of two evils, right? Either lie to her or watch her get killed."

"I dunno…I don't feel any better about it, knowing it was the lesser of two evils…"

"Tina, what you feel and what reality is are two different things. Maybe you did something wrong, maybe you did the right thing, and whether you did the right thing or not doesn't depend on what you think."

"…How do I figure out what to do?"

"I'd go to Cody's confessional booth."

Tina gulped.

"What?! He's not going to stick you with some penance you can't do, or anything!"

"But…he's catholic, and I'm…well…"

"He uses confession to reflect on what you did and see what you can do right the next time! Doctrine is beside the point. …I take that back: it's nowhere near the point! You need to talk to some ethics expert, and if an archbishop can't help you with ethics, who can? …Other than God Himself, that is…"

"…But…it's not about doctrine, it's…well…"

"What? What is it?"

"…It's a stupid reason. In fact, it doesn't apply. I'll see him after the party."

"What's the reason?" Youngdramon asked.

"It's nothing."

"It didn't seem like nothing. Was that hard swallow a 'nothing'? The last time I saw you swallow like that was when you heard that three orphans died from wandering into a time field. Something had you worried. What is it?"

Tina sighed. "In my hometown, there was rivalry between the Catholics and the Lutherans. My family was Presbyterian; we had no part in the rivalry."

"Rivalry, huh?"

"You don't want to know."

"I do too want to know!"

"…Knowing you, you _would _want to know. The Catholics would only eat seafood as meat during lent, and all the Lutheran butcher shops sold steaks at a loss during lent. The Lutherans wouldn't touch chocolate during lent, and the Catholic candy stores would just about give away chocolate."

"Wow…it's like they're trying to provoke each other to war, huh?"

"Never went that far. But it got burned into my brain that I shouldn't get involved in the rivalry, and that's why I didn't want to go to Cody."

"But, considering that the problems in Minnesota are about 6000 km and maybe 500 years away…"

"Yeah…it's safe to go to him."

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I was actually inspired to write this from Garrison Keiler's (I _think_ that's how you spell his last name) stories, "The News From Lake Woebegone". Lake Woebegone was a town in Minnesota where the Catholics and Lutherans had rivalry similar to what I described: "All the Lutherans drove Dodges, all the Catholics drove Chevies, and if you drove in with a Toyota, they would pay attention to you for a lot longer than you would think possible." It's a sweet radio show that he runs, The Prairie Home Companion. You should listen to it.

P.S.: He's not paying me to write this in! Honest! 


	73. Chapter 72: How to Make Up

NOTE: Christian Content

Chapter 72: How to Make Up…

Tina had showered, re-dressed, and said, "Joey come back to bed, now!"

Joey came bounding up to Tina and hopped into her pocket. He let out a disgruntled whistle. "Tina put cold stuff in her tummy!"

"Tina had to: Tina was too hot."

"Joey never get too hot on this world."

"Tina get too hot a lot on this world. Joey go to bed, now."

"Joey is cold in here 'cause Tina put cold stuff in her tummy."

"Then Joey stay with space heaters in orphanage. No let kids play with you."

"Okay."

Tina hoped that Joey would be okay in the orphanage. She started out for Cody's chapel, but she saw trouble looming: June was walking down the same hallway. Tina ducked behind a corner, and June harmlessly passed by. Tina wiped the sweat off her brow and continued to the chapel…she found him baptizing a baby that had been born while they were away. She waited her turn, and found that Cody already knew the details: he had been with them in Imperialdramon's force field.

"So…what do I do about June?" Tina asked.

"You will need to make up with her," Cody answered. "She won't DNA digivolve with you until you make up, you know."

"I figured…but there's one thing that's bugging me."

"What's that?"

Tina sighed. "At the time…it was a really dangerous situation, and this was the best thing that came to my mind to lie to her. But…" Tina sighed. "Did I do the wrong thing?"

Cody nodded. "You should have had Ash tie her down with Bulbasaur's Vine Whip."

"Is it too late to do that?"

"It won't help," Cody answered.

"What do I do now? June isn't even speaking to me. How can I even start to make it up to her?"

"Hatred is a terrible thing, Tina…along the line of evil things, it is second only to pride. But what is hatred's worst enemy?"

"…Love… So you're saying that, if I act like I like June a lot, she'll stop hating me?"

"It'll make her feel worse and worse about hating you, and she really should feel worse about it. The Bible says, 'love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you: in doing this, you heap burning coals on their heads.' "

"And those burning coals are feelings of guilt?"

"And other things, too. Go on…show June you don't hate her back."

******

"How about we do the duct tape on her again?" Youngdramon said.

"That's not the kind of thing I had in mind," Tina answered.

"Well, then…how about saving her neck in the middle of battle and taking a hit that knocks off your arm?"

"_Youngdramon!!_"

"Yeah, you'll want those appendages for hugging the orphans…hmm… I know! If we really _do_ hook her up with Matt, then---"

"Hold it, hold it!" Tina cut in. "We tried turning a lie into a truth before, and that backfired like a bazooka!"

"Well, if we can't suppress her romantic instincts with Matt, then who can we suppress them with?"

"We'd need to find someone else for her…"

"Someone well-raised…"

"Someone smart…"

"Someone overall cheerful…"

"Someone just as romantically inclined as she is…"

Youngdramon and Tina got the same looks on their faces and looked at each other nodding.

******

"Oh, Brock! I have one quick question for you," Tina said.

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah?" Brock asked, obviously in hormone-mode.

"There's this survey that I invented, to find the perfect mate for somebody. It was just another little thing to break the boredom that blowing up man-eating robots generates."

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah?"

"I was wondering if you wouldn't like to give it a try?"

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah."

"Great! Just fill it out and leave it by my room!"

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah."

******

"All right, give it to her!" Tina whispered. Mimi was June's roommate in this complex, and Mimi was willing to help work out this problem.

"Hey, June, check this out!" Mimi said. "It's some kind of find-your-match survey!"

"Hmm?"

"It's a survey you fill out that tells you who your ideal mate is!"

"Ideal mate, huh? I already know: it's Matt, and he doesn't like me. I don't have any luck with love."

"Luck has nothing to do with this: it's all about skill in selecting who goes with who! Maybe you and Matt aren't really compatible, anyhow. Imagine spending the rest of your life with him: every last little quirk and flaw in him would come to the surface, and he'd actually start to annoy you."

"Wouldn't that be true of any guy?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It can't hurt to try the survey, June!"

June shook her head. "I'm not interested."

"I'll leave it on the desk in case you change your mind."

Mimi left the room, looked at Tina sadly, and shook her head.

Tina shrugged. "We tried," she whispered.

June looked at the survey again. It read across the top, "Find the Mr. Right for your life! Question One: what do you look for first in a man?"

June thought about the question for a moment. _Honesty_, she answered.

"Question Two: Would you be willing to switch the stereotypical household jobs with your husband? (I.e., you would be the breadwinner and him the homemaker)"

_Hmm…yeah, I guess…_

"Question Three: How often do you fall in love with a new man? A: Seldom or Never B: Once every few months C: Once every few weeks D: Once every few days."

_I've been after Matt for thirty-three years! Never._

"Question Four: Where could you see yourself with your ideal mate? A: Kissing in the rain B: Snuggled together by a fireplace on a cold winter's evening C: Skeet-shooting in The Yukon D: all of the above."

_If I can take my umbrella with me, D._

"Question Five: When do you usually wake up in the morning? A: Five o'clock B: Seven o'clock C: Nine o'clock D: I lose all sense of time."

_D._

"Question Six: How afraid of commitment are you? A: Not at all B: a little C: somewhat afraid D: very afraid."

_A._

"Question Seven: If your ideal mate died, would you remarry?"

_No: I'd either kill myself, or join Cody's convent._

"Question Eight: What is your political tendency?"

_I'd vote the way Matt---I mean, my ideal mate would vote._

"Question Nine: How old are you? A: 15-25 B: 26-35 C: 36-45 D: 45+ E: I've lost all sense of time."

_A._

"Question Ten: What would pry you off of your ideal mate one you had him?"

_Nothing whatsoever._

And that was that for the survey…now, if she only knew where to turn it in…? 


	74. Chapter 73: And Then It Ocurred to June

Chapter 73: And Then It Occurred to June…

"Are you really going to check to see if they're really compatible?" Youngdramon asked.

"Of course I am, Youngdramon!" Tina answered. "What makes you think that I wouldn't?"

"I dunno...maybe the fact that you only gave them the surveys and nobody else?"

"Hmm…I guess I can see where you got that impression, then, but still...I'm looking. Let's see how Brock answered his survey…

Question one: What is the first thing you look for in a girl? _Overall looks_

Question two: Would you be willing to switch jobs with your wife? _Yes_

Question three: How often do you fall in love with a new girl? _D: Once every few days_

Question four: Where can you see yourself with your ideal mate? _D: All of the above_

Question five: When do you usually wake up in the morning? _A: Five o'clock_

"…Hold on a sec…! That's can't be right," Tina muttered.

"What?"

"Brock does _not_ get up at 5:00 in the morning!"

"He does, too," Youngdramon answered. "That's about an hour before his shift starts at the orphanage, _and_ he was used to doing that so he could cook for Ash and Misty."

"Wow…workaholic…

Question six: How afraid of commitment are you? _A: Not at all_

"…That's what _you_ think, Brock-head…

Question seven: If your ideal mate died, would you remarry? _Yes_

Question eight: What is your political tendency? _I'm not old enough to vote_

Question nine: How old are you? _E: I've lost all sense of time_

Question ten: What would pry you off your ideal mate once you had her? _Nothing_

"…Well, you've got to admit some similarity in the answers, don't you?" Tina asked.

"Um...is that good?"

"They're both looking for love, that's for sure," Tina answered. "As for overall compatibility…you have to admit that June isn't that bad along the line of looks, and Brock is no liar…They're in compatible age areas…"

"What about Brock's philandering tendency?"

"Good question…the only way around that would have to be to make June more attractive than all the other girls in the place…that's Mimi's job. As for how and where they'll meet, I have the solution…"

******

Brock was shocked to read that the survey wasn't telling him who his ideal mate was going to be. It just told him to meet her at a specific place: the same beachside restaurant where June and Matt had been set up for a date. The only difference was that Tina had it planned that this would be a good date, not a bad one. She had a waterproof canopy over their table, and the steaks weren't marinated in kerosene.

This time, Brock was wearing a tuxedo, and June was wearing a prom dress that made her look like a secret agent. They were both obviously dressed to kill. But Brock wasn't in a mental state to kill at all: he was barely in a mental state where he had enough wits to breathe!

"So…how do you burn your time at the new nuke plant?" June asked.

"…I do nothin'…" Brock answered with a flushed face.

"Same here…there's nothing to do, anyway, right?"

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah."

"So… We should use this time to get to know each other…what's your favorite color?"

"Purple…" Brock answered slowly. (Purple was the color dress June was wearing.)

June looked at her dress and nodded. "Glad I chose this dress…so…do you think a two-word vocabulary suits you well?"

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah."

June buried her face in her hands. "This isn't going well…"

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah."

"Brock, it's impossible to have a conversation with you…you have so many hormones that you can't think straight!"

"Ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah."

"I can't imagine anyone like you---" And then it occurred to June…

******

"So, what _exactly_ is the plan?" Takato asked.

"We're going to trash the enemy base south of Honshu Island, and rescue the hostages from there," Tai answered

"Hostages? You mean the people that are getting their skin oils harvested?"

"Exactly. That's what all the extra clothes we brought are for," he added, motioning to the several cardboard boxes that were stocked with blue jeans and sweatshirts of all sizes and builds.

Takato nodded. He turned to his digimon partner. "Ready for a challenge, boy?"

"You betcha!" Guilmon answered.

"Okay, then…when do we leave?"

"Right now sounds like a good choice," Yolei answered. "Ready, Hawkmon?"

"Indubitably! **Hawkmon, digivolve to…Altairmon!**"

"**Altairmon!**"

"**Gatomon!**"

"**DNA digivolve to…Swampangemon!**"

"**Swampangemon, mode-change to…giga mode!**" Swampangemon kneeled and let everyone into her pockets. "Let's get this base destroyed, already!"

"What about Omicronmon?" Takato asked. "Where does he ride?"

"He can take care of himself. In fact, he's going on ahead of us to shake them up."

"What really happened to him during the fight in space?"

"What Terrance did to make sure Omicronmon was smarter than the programs the purple spiral had given him was this: he used his D-Gauntlet to cut off Blackwargreymon's control of Omicronmon's body. But to do this, he had to rout Borggarurumon's mind through his D-Gauntlet. Now that he's safely out of range of Omicronmon, Borggarurumon's mind is gone, and so Blackwargreymon is in complete control of Omicronmon's body!"

"Cool…"

******

"Sir, we are under attack!"

"Source?"

"Unknown digimon, coming from the north!"

It was Omicronmon, and he was firing his torpedoes like mad, all of them aimed to hit near the base, as opposed to scoring direct hits.

"Tuli Telo Non!" Green balls of energy flew up from the ocean near the base: crackones were attacking.

"Omicron Torpedo!" Omicronmon answered. His torpedo must have had air-to-water capability, since the golden torpedo hit squarely and destroyed the crackone in one shot.

"Tuli Dra Jalnor!" Catamarines were coming up out of the water to face Omicronmon, now.

"Omicron Sword!" A blade extended out of Blackwargreymon's head, and Omicronmon flew above the catamarines' heads with it. He lined up his attack and flew in low, smacking each catamarine with his sword and cutting them all down the middle. That finished them.

"**Riidae-tor-viioh****, noh kreshnaiona djom…Riidae-tor-ortsa!**" Omicronmon looked, and several C-birds were combining into lamprongs.

_Hmph__,_ he thought. "Omicron Barrage!" The missile launchers on his legs opened and pummeled the lamprongs. They didn't last. _I wonder if that's enough to constitute "roughing up,"_ Omicronmon wondered. He flew back towards the nuke plant, just to see if he couldn't talk to Swampangemon on the way. He saw her coming. "I took out about fifteen mega-level machines," Omicronmon shouted.

"Cool! Let's see them counterattack, now!" Tai shouted.

"Are you ready, Guilmon? Takato asked.

"I'm ready!"

"**Digi-modify!**** Warp digivolution, activate!**"

"**Guilmon, warp-digivolve to…Gallantmon!**"

Tina looked at Youngdramon: "You're ready, I take it?"

"Hit me, baby!"

Tina switched hats. "**Digi-armor, energize!**"

"**Youngdramon, armor-digivolve to…Gryllotamon!**"

"Ash, would you please do the honors?"

"**Gryllotamon, radio-digivolve to…Termon!**"

"Now…about those saberstrikes marching out of the base?" Tracy asked.

"No problem…Charizard, Pikachu, Tyranitar, I choose you!" Tyranitar started smashing the saberstrikes to pieces, and Pikachu and Charizard were using their long-range attacks on them with finesse.

"Now, how to actually get _in_," Kari thought.

"I have the answer," Swampangemon said. "**Swampangemon, mode-change to…micro mode!**"

"And, if _that_ doesn't work…" Termon said as she began to dig underground.

"One way or another, we'll need Joey to actually complete our mission," Yolei pointed out. "Tina, you stay out here for now."

Tina rolled her eyes. "No participation on my part in this, huh?"

"Tina, we can't risk Joey's safety."

Tina sighed… 


	75. Chapter 74: Secured!

Chapter 74: Secured!

Matt heard a noise…it was something at his door. He looked, and someone was slipping an envelope under the door.

"Great…another survey," Matt sighed. He tore into the letter and looked at it…it was from June. After debating in his mind whether of not he should read it, the word "apology" caught his eye in the first paragraph. _Hmm…_

"Dear Matt: I owe you a huge apology. I'm only writing like this because I can't bring myself to say three coherent words around you. I'm not mad at you for not liking me. I just realized what an idiot I've been, all on account of love. I just saw someone who was the same way towards me, and that made me feel awkward…now I know how you felt. I wish there was some way we could shape up our minds…

"Sincerely, June." (The word "love" was crossed out right before the word "sincerely".)

Matt sighed. "Great…I'm off the hook!" he sighed in contentment. "…although, I wonder if Tina is off the hook, yet?"

******

"♪♫Eighty-six bottles of beer on the wall, ♫ eighty-six bottles of beer---"

"Lightning Joust!"

"YoNon Gazrii!"

"---♫if one of the bottles should happen to fall, ♪there'd be eighty-five bottles---"

"**Agumon, digivolve to…Greymon!**"

"---of beer on the ♪ wall. Eighty-five bottles ♫ of beer on---"

"Nova Blast!"

"Non Gazrii!"

"**Praze-tor-epio****, noh kreshnaiona djom…praze-tor-ortei!**" 

"---the ♫ wall, eighty-five bottles of beer! If one of the bottles should happen ♫ to fall---"

"**Greymon, digivolve to…Metalgreymon!** Giga Blaster!"

"…Oh, who am I kidding??" Tina muttered. "This song just isn't working out!"

"Are you a little bored, Tina?" Takato asked.

"More than a little!" Tina answered.

"Just because you're not fighting doesn't mean that you have to be bored! Isn't _watching_ a battle like this for an opportunity good enough for you?"

"Nope."

Takato sighed angrily. "Well at least stop singing!"

Termon crawled up from her hole. "Tina, we're ready for Joey!"

"Finally!"

"You might want to put your raincoat on, there's water dripping from the ceiling of this tunnel. Or there's another option… **Termon, mode-change to…streamline mode!**"

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Tina asked, climbing into the cockpit.

"Sure! You look like you could use a massage."

"AAAAA-A-A-AA-AA---A-A-AAA!!!" Tina screamed as Termon went careening through the bumpy, poor-excuse-for-a-road tunnel. As Termon skidded to a stop, Tina said, still shaken-up, "_Please_ don't do that again!

"So," Tina asked, shaking her head to get her senses back. "Where is Joey's console?"

"It's in the lab."

"How do you know that?"

Swampangemon suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "I told her."

"I take it you're my escort the rest of the way?" Tina asked.

"That I am. C'mon."

Tina climbed up onto Swampangemon's back, and they flew towards the alien lab. The aliens had repaired the hole in the roof, but their human prisoners were still in the lab, with their skin oils still being harvested. "So…how do we get them out of there?" Tina asked.

"That's Joey's department," Swampangemon answered.

"Joey!" Tina said, half-singing.

Joey squeaked and poked his head out of Tina's pocket.

"Can you figure out how to get the people out of the vats?"

"Joey fix-it!" Joey answered. He hopped to the controls and began furiously working them. The vats lost power, drained, and then their plastic cylinders lifted and let the humans and digimon fell out.

Tina and Swampangemon began un-hooking the oxygen tubes from the prisoners' face masks, and they could hear breathing underneath the masks: they were alive.

"Now…how do we get them out of here?" Tina wondered.

"Leave that to me!" Swampangemon answered. "**Swampangemon, mode-change to…giga mode!**" Swampangemon made another hole in the roof. Gallantmon flew down into the building and began picking prisoners up and putting them in Swampangemon's pockets, and Tina began loading people into Termon's cockpit for her to carry into Swampangemon's pockets.

"Is that it?" Swampangemon asked.

"There are a few human's I'd still like to get out," Tina answered.

"Who?"

"Terrance's personal collection."

Yolei cut in, "Tina, you're too young to be going in where---"

"Mom, this is a rescue attempt! I won't be in there long, and besides: I'm more mature than I was when we first left Minnesota. I know what those robots are doing to people, and I know what Terrance was doing to his 'personal collection'. That's why I want to help them out of there!"

Yolei shook her head. "All right, but I'm going with you!"

They found that each girl's spirit had been broken inside the collection. They had all been outfitted with some kind of implanted device in their necks that injected chemicals into their brains to make them more afraid. They would have to have Joe remove them. None of them were adequately dressed, and, even though they were afraid of Tina and Yolei, they didn't lift a finger to resist them as they lead them out of the harem. It broke Tina's heart to see them like this, and she shed a tear on a seven-year-old girl's forehead as she held her in her lap, wrapped up in a blanket to cover her nakedness and keep her warm.

"So, _now_ is everyone out?" Swampangemon asked.

"Yes, they are!" Yolei shouted back.

"Then let's get out of this place! Omicronmon, have at it!"

"My pleasure…Omicron Torpedo!" He fired at the base, and one hit was enough to blow it to smithereens. That was it for the Linonian presence in Japan. 


	76. Chapter 75: Homeward Bound

Chapter 75: Homeward Bound

It wasn't the worst of jobs, being the commanding officer of the Liberator…but it wasn't the most rewarding, either: the admiral knew that he had to act quickly; otherwise the Linonians would come up with another, similar warship and destroy the Rendilian Bloc. The Liberator was already well within enemy territory, and they had yet to encounter any opposition…

"Sir, _ferra-tor-khminh_ and _riidae-tor-ortsa_approaching!"

The spiderspheres and lamprongs were in some kind of formation, with the spiderspheres tucked inside the lamprongs' fangs. This gave the spiderspheres some engine power, which they didn't have at all before.

"Activate the Sun Cannon. It's time to field test it." Out of the front of their rotating ship, a cannon was deployed. It aimed at the death stors and fired. The yellow shot hit a single one, and the explosion was huge. It destroyed all the rest of the mega-level machines, and it rocked the Liberator to one side, although it didn't damage the Liberator.

"Apparently, sir, it's best used at long-range."

"Indeed."

The next few hours were uneventful, until…

"Sir, there's an _ atrio-tor-ritap_ coming in at lyceron velocity."

"What's its destination?"

"…The _Kamnala_ system, sir!"

"You don't suppose…this can only mean that they are implementing Protocol Omega. Use the Sun Cannon and destroy it, now!"

"Understood, sir." The ballistack exploded before it got far.

"Amazing…those cruise missiles have armor shielding that could withstand a _praze-tor-aliirtu_'s attack, and we destroyed it in one shot…"

"The Sun Cannon is a piece of work, sir."

"Good…we may need it…"

******

Tina knew that there was something going on from the moment she opened her eyes. It obviously wasn't an attack; people weren't worried at all. Nonetheless, Tina felt wary as she changed out of her pajamas and into her turtleneck and overalls.

She caught Yolei just as she passed by her room. "Say, Mom…what's going on?"

"We have visitors who want to meet Joey," Yolei answered, showing Tina a pair of creatures who looked almost exactly like Joey, only bigger. They were both wearing something that looked a lot like space suits.

"…Joey?" Tina asked.

Joey's head popped out of her pocket. Joey looked at the other two, and began excitedly whistling and jumping around.

"…Mom…what do they want?"

"The same thing Joey wants: to help us out of this."

"They're from Joey's planet, aren't they?"

Yolei nodded and smiled. "Joey can finally go home, now. And so can we."

"…_Huh??_"

"These guys are called Rendilians. They're the leaders of this huge bloc that has been fighting the Linonians for centuries. About twenty years ago by our time, the war got out-of-hand, and both sides decided to sign a peace treaty, but they both knew that the treaty wouldn't hold."

"Uh…how does Earth factor into this story?" Tina asked.

"It doesn't…yet. Earth was far from both their spaces, and both sides were so preoccupied with fighting each other that they didn't have time to explore the galaxy. But during the peacetime, they both realized that Earth had silicon and iron, and both tried to secure Earth. The Linonians broke the treaty when they tried to take over Earth, since Earth was defined as neutral territory, and that's when war broke out again. The war wasn't going very well for the Rendilians…they knew it was because the Linonians had our solar system. But by then, there wasn't anything they could do about it."

"So Joey had to do something about it."

"And he got them a landslide victory, so far," Yolei answered. "That's how they were able to get here."

"…Why were the Linonians trying to destroy Earth?"

"Thanks to our resistance, they thought it was too much trouble to conquer, so they were going to destroy it instead, so that the Rendilians couldn't get any iron or silicon from Earth, either. If you can't win, make sure your enemies lose…the Linonians call it Protocol Omega."

"…But that doesn't answer my first question: why can we suddenly go home, now?"

"Because the Rendilians know about the Linonians' time scrambled technology. They have the antidote to it!"

"What?!"

"They have something like a bomb that they can drop, and that will have the same effect as the time scrambler did in the first place, except it will completely _un_-scramble time."

Tina's jaw dropped: their prayers were answered. It was over…but wait a second… "Mom…would it wipe our memories clean, too?"

"It might, or it might not…we don't know, sometimes these time anomalies can be unpredictable."

Tina gulped: she didn't have much time to make up with June about this…

******

June was roused from her sleep by a knock at her door. "Who is it?"

"It's me!" Tina whispered.

June groaned and sat up in bed. After a moment's consideration, she got out of bed, tiptoed to the door, and stepped into the hallway. "Tina…what's this about?"

Tina was so ashamed of what had happened that she didn't even look June in the eyes. "June…I set up the blind-date-survey thing. I set up the dates with Matt, and with Brock…I'm sorry."

June let out a disgusted sigh. "Tina…you don't know what you're messing with when it comes to love. Have you ever been in love, before?"

Tina shook her head.

"Then don't pretend like it's something you know everything about. Look…I know that you want to make everything up to me, but that date with Brock didn't go so well. He just babbled like his brain wasn't working, or something. But…" June hesitated. Tina wasn't going to break the silence, though. "…I'm the same way around Matt, aren't I?"

Tina slowly nodded.

"Then…" June sighed. "You don't know anything about love…but you still taught me a lot. If I'm going to keep dating, I'll have to get my act together first…"

Tina didn't know whether June had said this to get it off her mind, or whether this was leading up to something… "…I'm sorry, June."

June patted Tina on the shoulder. "It's okay…I know you had good intentions…but next time, don't lie through your teeth."

"The next time, I'll have Ash use Bulbasaur to tie you down with Vine Whip. Thanks…for forgiving me…"

June nodded and yawned. "I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning."

"No…you won't," Tina answered.

"Huh? Tina, what're you talking about? …Something's going on; what is it?"

"The Linonians' enemies just landed on Earth…they have a device that will un-scramble time for us."

"…Wow…!"

"That's why I wanted to make up with you now…since we might not remember anything afterwards…"

June slapped her forehead and covered her eyes. "That means I won't remember what I just learned!"

Tina left June with her fatigue and bewilderment, and ran to the orphanage. She scooped up Ingrid and took Natasha by the hand.

"What's going on, Tina?" Natasha asked.

"It's…I wanted to say goodbye."

"…Why? You're talking like we'll never see each other again…are you going on a suicide mission? Is the base going to get attacked?"

Tina shook her head. "Better than that: Joey's an alien from another planet, and his race has a way to unscramble time, the same way that it was scrambled in the first place. But that means that our memories might get wiped…and we might never see each other, again…"

Natasha sighed. "Good news, bad news…"

"No kidding…"

"When are they going to drop it?" Natasha asked.

"I don't know…I'll run and find out." And run she did: she had no idea how much time she had left to ask. She came running back with her rain jacket in her hand and Youngdramon trailing behind her. "It's going to happen in about five minutes! C'mon outside, let's see it!"

"Is it raining out there?"

"Yes, but we've got shelter, it's okay."

"What shelter?" Natasha asked.

"My wings!" Youngdramon answered. "Come on!"

Ingrid felt privileged: she got to ride on Youngdramon's back on the way out. There was already a crowd, waiting to see the final explosion. "Where's it going to come from?" Tina asked Hare.

"Over there," he answered, pointing toward the east, out over the Pacific Ocean.

Tina spread her jacket out on the ground, and Youngdramon spread her wing over Tina. Natasha and Ingrid sat under her other wing, and they looked towards the east…

Knowing her time was very short now, Tina asked, "Can I talk to Ingrid?"

Ingrid walked out of Natasha's lap and sat in Tina's. "Tina?" she asked happily.

Tina sighed. A tear trickled down her cheek.

"…How come Tina sad?"

"Tina sad because Tina hafta go away…"

"Why Tina hafta go away? I don't want Tina go away!"

"Tina doesn't wanna hafta go away…but, sometimes…Tina has to do things she doesn't wanna do…"

Ingrid wrapped her arms around Tina's neck. "I go with you!"

Tina shook her head. "You could hold on for all you're worth, but it won't make any difference…Ingrid can't come with Tina. Tina wishes she could…" Tina wrapped her arms around her adopted daughter, knowing this could be the last chance she ever would have to love her.

Ingrid started to cry, too. There was no dialogue after that point…they knew what was coming, and Tina had already said goodbye to Youngdramon…

There was a flash of blinding flash of light in the east…

** THE END**

.

.

.

.

.

right?

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Once again, if you've skipped to the last chapter to see how it ends, you're disappointed: I resolve issues that you never knew about before you read this chapter. And you still don't know much about them. SO DON'T SKIP TO THE LAST CHAPTER WHEN YOU READ MY STUFF!!!!

Anyhow, I hope you've had fun reading this volume. So as to whether or not there's going to be anything more…I won't make _any_ announcements until I start getting emails begging me to tell the world.

I know what you're thinking: "Why would he write an ending like this and then _not_ have anything more? What other reason does he have to make such a cliffhanger-ending?" I'll give you a hint what my reasons might be: sheer random malice. If you haven't noticed, I stink at things like foreshadowing and symbolism. In fact, when I read my own stuff, I sometimes feel like I'm foreshadowing events that never happen. Oh, well...I guess that adds to the suspense.

…Anyhow, I'm thinking of working on something a bit simpler for a while, not to mention SHORTER!!! It's called, "If You're Offended By This, You ASKED For It" and it's a satire on all the subjectivity stuff that they put into Digimon. It's pretty much a parody on season one. It has wackier humor than Protocol Omega, of course, and I also spoof a lot of commercials. I hope you guys like it.

If you're wondering about all this talk I'm giving out about being guided by a supernatural entity, it's 100% true: I was told to do this by the God of all the Universe, made human in Jesus Christ (He was no avatar, He was no demi-god: He was both 100% God and 100% Human), and He even guided me in writing this so I wouldn't get writer's block. If He can and will do something like this, imagine what he can do with your life? This is a sweet production, and it only took a year and a half: imagine what He can do with…say, sixty years? Or eighty-nine, for that matter (lifespans are getting bigger)?

So…I hope you get a chance to read "If You're Offended By This, You ASKED For It", and I hope that this was fun.

In the meantime…

_What could the Little Teenaged Geek be doing with all the Time On His Hands while he's Squirrelled Away In His Secret Nerd Lab?_

(He's obviously not learning how to spell "squirreled"!)


End file.
